Commission denies Soda Bay Road greenhouse cannabis project amid biological and cultural resource concerns

The Lake County Planning Commission voted March 26 to deny a major use permit and design review for a proposed mixed‑light and greenhouse cannabis campus on Soda Bay Road (PL25‑67), citing unresolved biological, hydrological and cultural‑resource concerns raised during public comment and by commissioners.

Associate planner Trish Turner presented the project as a multi‑acre cultivation campus with up to 43,200 square feet of mixed‑light canopy (33,000 square feet inside greenhouses), a 6,000‑square‑foot processing and nonvolatile manufacturing building, and a 2,400‑square‑foot distribution center on a combined parcel of approximately 44.31 acres in the Lakeport planning area. Turner said the parcel lies in a FEMA AO flood zone and noted mitigation measures written into the draft mitigated negative declaration to protect the Clear Lake hitch, including setbacks and restrictions on ground‑disturbing work where feasible.

Public commenters and local organizations pressed the commission for more recent biological surveys and a more thorough cumulative impacts review. Mary Jo Velasquez of the Lake County Land Trust said flooding from the site…