April 10, 2019 — At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, cannabis program manager Sean Connell reported that the number of cultivation permits issued and approved has gone up to 238. That’s how many permits have now been issued to growers who paid their local taxes and have moved into the process of getting legal with the state.
Since January 4, that number has been steady at 236. But the new number is not exactly an increase. It’s a return to how many permits had been issued and approved as of December 19 of last year. That was an increase of one from November 20.
County staff believe that stringent requirements by state agencies, particularly the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, are responsible for the holdups. But the county’s cannabis department, which has now moved from the Agriculture Department to Planning and Building Services, continues to experience high turnover. Chevon Holmes has left the administrator position, and Connell told the board that he hopes to fill three vacant spots.
The board also voted unanimously to extend two moratoriums, one on hemp and the other on GMOs, until February 24, 2020.