Title
Benbow Valley Ranch Farms, LLC: Special Permit
Case Number PLN-11916-SP (filed 12/15/2016)
Assessor’s Parcel Number 223-044-010
Benbow area
A Special Permit for an existing 10,000-square-foot (SF) mixed-light cannabis cultivation operation. All cannabis will be grown in three greenhouses that total 9,600 SF consolidated to one location per California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommendation. Three cultivation locations are to be retired and remediated. The additional 400 SF of permitted cultivation area would be used to bring 1,000 SF of ancillary propagation up to 1,200 SF in a fourth greenhouse and an additional 200 SF of clone propagation would occur in the drying room. There is a maximum of three mixed-light harvests annually. Processing activities including drying, curing, and trimming would be performed onsite in an existing 2,000-SF drying facility and 260-SF processing building. The estimated projected water use for the project is approximately 235,425 gallons (23 gallons/SF/year). All irrigation water is derived from a 1,466,329-gallon rainwater catchment pond and hard storage filled by the catchment pond. Up to three seasonal employees or contractors may be required during cannabis processing. Power for the project for the short term would be provided by a diesel generator. The applicant is proposing to install a solar system consisting of 30 1,000-watt photovoltaic panels and three Tesla batteries to power the project in the near future if Pacific Gas and Electric Company power should not be available.
Recommendation
Adopt the resolution to 1) find that the Zoning Administrator has considered the Addendum to the adopted Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) for the Commercial Medical Marijuana Land Use Ordinance (CMMLUO) as described by Section 15164 of the State California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines, 2) make all of the required findings for approval of the Special Permit and 3) approve the Benbow Valley Ranch Farms, LLC Special Permit as recommended by staff subject to the recommended conditions.