Residents urge board to fix gaps on cannabis and modeling errors in draft general plan and DEIR

Several residents used the public-comment period to challenge the county's draft general plan and DEIR. Scott White (Lewon) said community plans for Lewon, Trinity Center and Weaverville do not address cannabis even though it has been the "number one topic" in recent years; he argued that deferring cannabis guidance to later programs defeats the purpose of community plans and asked the board to pull the plan for revision.

Lisa Wright (Lewon) followed with technical concerns about the DEIR's methodology, saying the DEIR assumes population and industrial/office/retail growth figures (e.g., 7,420 additional residents and 92 additional housing units through 2050, 10.5 million square feet of office) but does not show the calculation connecting those numbers to the proposed land-use map, parcel-level acreage, F.A.R. assumptions or realistic capacity. Wright said inconsistent F.A.R. values and other errors lead to unreliable conclusions on air quality, VMT, traffic and cumulative impacts and urged the board to address the analytic bridge while the DEIR is under review.

Why it matters: public commenters asked the board to ensure the general plan and DEIR are analytically coherent and legally defensible before the county moves toward certification. Board members acknowledged the concerns and signaled openness to further review and a possible future agenda discussion.