FOG UPDATE – SUCCESS!!!

For those who didn’t attend the Board of Supervisors meeting this morning, the vote was 5-0 for an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the Cannabis Ordinance. There will be no moratorium for new or ongoing permits under the existing ordinance, but there will finally be the in-depth environmental study that should have happened years ago.

The Board met in closed session yesterday and apparently concluded that the County would be in legal jeopardy if they proceeded with the Subsequent Mitigated Negative Declaration that will be replaced by the EIR.

The Joe Rodota and West County trails will still be protected by the 1000′ setbacks from cannabis grows. We expect that the EIR will support these trail protections.

The timeline is to be determined in coming weeks, but the County will have community workshops and a scoping session to clarify what the EIR will address, possibly late summer or fall. Supervisor Hopkins made an effort to speed it along, but the County has a backlog of ongoing and new issues and EIRs are lengthy. There will be plenty of opportunity for public comment in this phase of the process.

Staff indicated that the total time frame is 12-18 months. I’ve attached the Resolution from today.

THANKS EVERYONE for all your support, donations, letters to the editor and to the supervisors! You all contributed to the success of this monumental push to stop this effort to make cannabis permitting ministerial at the expense of residents and neighborhoods.

If you watched the zoom, you will have noticed that 2nd District Supervisor Rabbitt understood the process, had studied the communications from his constituents and was a strong advocate for neighborhood protections. If you want to thank him he is at David.Rabbitt@sonoma-county.org If you want to thank al the supervisors for voting for an EIR, the addresses are on the County website or on our past updates.

Anna Ransome for Friends of Graton (FOG)