Humboldt planning panel adopts mitigated negative declaration and approves four cannabis cultivation permits

The Humboldt County Planning Commission on an evening vote adopted a mitigated negative declaration (ISMND) and approved four separate cannabis-related land use actions covering multiple conditional-use permits and one special permit across a single legal parcel in Larrabee Valley east of Bridgeville. Staff said the combined projects involve about 56,000 square feet of existing outdoor cultivation and roughly 4 acres of new cultivation, with total estimated annual water demand of about 4,600,000 gallons drawn from three ponds, one proposed rainwater catchment pond and five existing permitted groundwater wells.

Senior planner Steven Santos told the commission the projects would rely on a mix of pond storage (about 4.3 million gallons) and tanks (about 402,000 gallons) and described standard mitigations for agriculture and forestry conversion, dust control, nesting-bird surveys, bullfrog management, invasive plant restoration and generator noise attenuation. "Total estimated annual water is 4,600,000 gallons, sourced from 3 existing ponds and 1 proposed rainwater catchment pond, as well as 5 existing and permitted…