Supervisors Add Conditions But Narrowly Deny Appeal of Rolling Meadow Ranch Cannabis Project in Remote SoHum
Senior Planner Meghan Ryan presents an overview of the Rolling Meadow Ranch project. | Screenshot from Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
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At the end of a lengthy public hearing on Tuesday, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2, narrowly denying an appeal of the Planning Commission’s Jan. 21 approval of a controversial cannabis cultivation and processing project near the remote Southern Humboldt community of McCann.
The project, developed by Rolling Meadow Ranch, LLC, calls for 5.73 acres of mixed-light cultivation and processing facilities located in four distinct cultivation areas in up to 16 greenhouses, with a total project footprint of 8.5 acres.
TODAY in SUPES: COVID Hospitalizations at All-Time High, Cannabis Growers Blast County’s Marketing Efforts and a Permanent Hemp Ban is Passed
Screenshots from Tuesday’s meeting (clockwise from top left): Supervisor Rex Bohn, Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, Supervisor Mike Wilson, Supervisor Virginia Bass, Health Officer Ian Hoffman and Supervisor Steve Madrone.
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Another big day for the Humboldt County Board of supervisors. Let’s get right to it, shall we?
COVID-19 Update
In his latest COVID-19 update, Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman said that while he expects the county to remain in the state’s purple tier, denoting widespread virus, for the coming weeks, he’s hopeful that we’re moving “over the top of that plateau” and can look forward to declining case counts. That’s what’s happening at the state level, and we tend to follow a bit behind statewide trends, he said. (Tuesday’s new-case count was just five.)
County Supes Approve Civil Penalties on ‘Yee Haw’ Communal Living Property Near Trinidad
The property at 473 Quarry Road, just east of Trinidad, hosts multiple un-permitted residences, including makeshift structures and broken-down vehicles. | Photos via a Humboldt County inspection report.
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A couple of former residents called in to Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting to defend the property’s owner, Charles Garth.
“He has provided a service for people who couldn’t have found housing otherwise,” one woman said.
Another said she lived there when her son was a toddler and it was the only place she could afford. “That gave us an opportunity to stay in the area,” she said. “We were really poor.”
Supply and Demand: COVID-19 Vaccination Frustrations Boil with Too Few Doses and Another Curveball from the State northcoastjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from northcoastjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman. | Screenshot from Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting.
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At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, everyone seemed to have the same question for Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman: What’s the plan for getting the public vaccinated?
More than 10 months after the first county resident was diagnosed with COVID 19, Humboldt’s case count is skyrocketing, nearly two dozen residents have died, and the local economy remains hobbled by virus-triggered restrictions. Everyone is desperately reaching for the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.
But it hasn’t even been a month since the FDA authorized emergency use of two COVID vaccines, and on Tuesday Hoffman said it’s just not possible to lay out a concrete timeline at this early stage.