Sonoma Planning Commission OKs dispensary use permit

By Braden Cartwright

The design of Sonoma’s first commercial storefront cannabis dispensary was hammered last week by members of the Sonoma Planning Commission, who said the renovations by dispensary operator Sparc would make the building look “quasi-industrial,”... read more

"...commissioners were impressed by the details of the operation, and they approved a use permit for the retail business..."

"I know the council is super motivated, on behalf of the city, of course, to get the doors open of the dispensary and get the tax revenues through and get the services we provide and the cannabis that the community has been waiting for."

Sonoma supes put a lid on pot farming

By Janis Mara

Sonoma County supervisors Tuesday unanimously rejected a proposed ordinance that would have made it easier for businesses to get permits to grow cannabis, opting for a comprehensive environmental impact report. The 5-0 vote took place amid a torrent... read more

"This sets a dangerous precedent. To have county staff spend a year and a half, hire a CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) consultant, hold multiple public meetings and expend time, money and resources and someone waves a lawsuit and the supervisors fold."

"[Cannabis] is the only crop in the county where you need a hydrologist to demonstrate there’s enough water. It’s the only crop in the county where the landowner has to give an easement to officials to come in and monitor the well but also the [water] meter."

Strange bedfellows behind Sonoma County’s cannabis push

By Craig S. Harrison

The North Bay Leadership Council endorsed an extreme cannabis ordinance that invites massive outdoor cultivation in Sonoma County. Friedman’s Home Improvement, Comcast, Redwood Credit Union, Wells Fargo Bank, Kaiser Permanente, St. Joseph Health,... read more

"The [North Bay Leadership Council] is dominated by large corporations such as Cannacraft, SPARC, a Big Cannabis law firm, and newspapers controlled by a prominent cannabis lobbyist in Sacramento."

Why the cannabis industry may be moving faster than expected into mainstream banking

By Mark Calvey

My report earlier this week that Oakland’s Harborside received a $12 million business loan from a bank smoked out another cannabis company eager to say that it, too, received a bank loan — back in summer of 2020. The significance of the... read more

"Sparc’s [Founder & CEO Erich] Pearson is among the pioneers of California’s legalized cannabis industry, having moved to California from Indiana in 1998 to grow cannabis, two years after Golden State voters legalized the drug for medicinal use. Pearson co-founded the San Francisco Cannabis Collective in 2001, which would later become Sparc, or the San Francisco Patient and Resource Center..."

Sonoma County commission to take up long-delayed rules for commercial cannabis farms

By Julie Johnson

Sonoma County is reconsidering its rules for cannabis cultivation with the goal of streamlining the approval process for growers and aligning the industry more closely with traditional agriculture. A central element of the county’s plan is to... read more

"Sonoma County needs to have a business-friendly environment. Sonoma County is known for direct-to-consumer sales, hospitality. It’s a destination. This is a perfect crop to do that with."

New council member, hospital CEO, and pot farm

The long-ago Gordenker Turkey Farms property in Glen Ellen has been approved by the County for a new farming venture — cannabis cultivation and processing. The 27-acre site along Highway 12 north of Trinity Road, will be operated by the company... read more

Cannabis operation approved for old Glen Ellen turkey farm

By Val Robichaud

The long-abandoned Gordenker Turkey Farms property in Glen Ellen has been approved by the County for a new farming venture — cannabis cultivation and processing. The 27-acre site along Highway 12 north of Trinity Road, will be operated by the... read more

Cultivator Chris Hayes

California Dreaming

By Jonah Raskin

Chris Hayes was a Californian before he came to California, though he didn’t really know it. His 19th-century counterparts arrived from the four corners of the world to pan for gold. “I came for the San Francisco music scene,” he tells me on... read more

"Hayes has cultivated marijuana in more parts of Sonoma County than any other grower I‘ve ever met. He’s grown indoors and outdoors, in greenhouses and in natural sunlight, in the hills outside Healdsburg and in Santa Rosa, Occidental and Glen Ellen."

"You gotta take what Mother Nature gives you. That means using the sun, the air, the water and the ground itself."