Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Cannabis Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Residents and planning-group members say staff sidelined alternatives in social equity cannabis presentation
Summary
Multiple callers during non-agenda public comment on Jan. 27 told the Board of Supervisors they believe staff reports on the social equity cannabis program omitted alternatives and ignored planning group testimony, urging the board to pause and re-center environmental and public-health review.
Several callers during the Jan. 27 non-agenda public comment period criticized how staff presented the county's social equity cannabis program at a Jan. 14 hearing, saying key alternatives were omitted and that planning groups' local testimony was sidelined.
Terry Ann Skelly said the staff report on Jan. 14 did not include an alternative that retained current cannabis regulations, and she characterized the omission as biased. Becky Raff, speaking on behalf of planning group chairs from Valley Center, Fallbrook and Borrego, said the testimony of unpaid local volunteers about groundwater risk, wildfire danger and infrastructure limitations was ignored and asked the board to pause and reframe the process around science and public-health review.
"Invoking equity while ignoring science, public health, and the residents most affected by this program is a contradiction," Raff said, urging the board to re-engage impacted communities.
The speakers did not ask for immediate board action at this meeting; they requested the staff revisit the report and ensure alternatives and local testimony are included in any formal decision-making materials.
