Wine Country Times

The farm bureau is weighing in on cannabis legalization as there is a wide array of interest in the debate with strong support on both sides. 

Executive director of the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, Tawny Tesconi, discussed the nature of the controversy surrounding cannabis in Sonoma County. 

"There’s a lot of interest on both sides of the issue here," Tesconi told KSRO radio. "There’s people who are supportive of cannabis and there’s people who are against the cultivation of cannabis and it kind of falls down to the overall change is now most cannabis growers will only need an administerial permit from the AG commissioner’s office and it doesn’t necessarily have to necessarily through the review process that all had to go through prior to Chapter 38."

Tesconi also explained the difference between Chapter 38 and Chapter 26. 

"Back in 2016, the county worked on a cannabis ordinance that looked at all phases of cannabis operations from cultivation to processing to distribution and that was called Chapter 26," Tesconi said. "Now they have come back with Chapter 38, which is purely about cultivation and ultimately the big change between 38 and 26 is that it takes the responsibility from permit Sonoma to manage cultivation and gives it to the AG Commissioner's Office of Administirial Permit."

"Our biggest concern with what is going on around Chapter 38 is that the regulations that are in Chapter 38 are very strict," Tesconi said.

In 2018, a variety of changes were made Sonoma County's cannabis ordinance. These included a minimum lot size of ten acres for any commercial cannabis cultivation in agriculture and resource zones, the mandate that any cannabis cultivation be at least 600 feet from schools, the requirement of a use permit for adults to use cannabis, lasting five years. Zoning permits also only lasted one year, according to the 2018 changes. 

The Sonoma County Planning Commission has a meeting on cannabis planned for Thursday, April 15.