What is the RRR Program and why is it important to you as a Cannabis Farmer? On this week’s episode of Joe Knows, Joe Moran of 1 Degree Consulting talks about the RRR Program within the Humboldt County Commercial Cannabis Land Use Ordinance which allows for an existing cultivation site to be Retired, Remediated and Relocated to a different qualifying parcel. For more information about the different options you have and how we can help, call the 1 Degree Consulting office at 707.890.6600.
This week’s topic for Joe Knows, Joe Moran General Manager of 1 Degree Consulting empowered by Humboldt Green discusses the Abatement Letters that were sent out by the County of Humboldt to landowners. The notices order the recipients to correct or remedy violations within 10 calendar days or risk fines of $10,000 per day. Many of the notices are based upon images of greenhouses with the assumption that cannabis cultivation is occurring. You have the right to challenge these assumptions. If you feel you received an Abatement Letter in error, the 1 Degree Consulting team can help you challenge the County. Give the 1 Degree Consulting team a call at 707.890.6600.
Who is Joe and what does he know? Joe Moran, General Manager of 1 Degree Consulting a division of Humboldt Green®, is part of the Humboldt County cannabis brain trust. Growing cannabis has been Joe’s passion for almost three decades and he cultivated under Prop 215 for many years. He graduated from Humboldt State University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resource Planning. Joe’s education in rural environment land use was instrumental in his efforts to organize large-scale music and cannabis events and festivals since the early 1990’s. Joe has been an integral part of planning and permitting for events such as Reggae on the River, Reggae Rising, HempFest West, Humboldt Garden Expo, Cannifest, the Yes We Cann Parade & Hullabaloo and many other local cannabis events.
Living in Humboldt, studying environmental planning as well as being part of the cannabis culture and industry has led Joe to a unique position as a cannabis consultant. As part of the cannabis community for almost thirty years, Joe has a solid understanding of the historical pathway to legalization in California. Joe and the 1 Degree Consulting team understand how current policies and regulations drive consulting projects and take pride in assisting many clients in securing their local permits and State licensing. He has combined his education, experience and passions to help build bridges to compliancy for the cannabis community.
The pathway to legalization can be tricky and difficult to understand with changing regulations and the overall evolution of the cannabis industry. Many applicants have voiced that it’s hard to keep up with the latest cannabis news and how that applies to cannabis companies moving out of the darkness and into the light, we understand those concerns and are actively gathering the info that our community needs. So, where are you going to turn to get legit and up to date cannabis facts and information? Joe knows!
Tune into 1 Degree Consulting’s “Joe Knows” each week for all the latest cannabis industry regulation news. Joe will be providing information and helpful updates to the cannabis community about local issues in cities and the County such as building permits, agency review, dealing with neighbors and more. He’ll also be sharing highlighted information from CalCannabis, Manufactured Cannabis Safety Branch and the Bureau of Cannabis Control. Some hot topics include State temporary licenses expiring, mixing Adult and Medical products in addition to Industry issues such as the use of industrial hemp in CBD food products and supply chain challenges.
Catch Joe Moran’s “Joe Knows” segments each week about cannabis compliancy on Facebook Live, 1 Degree Consulting’s Instagram and right here on the Humboldt Green Culture Blog.
Interested in cannabis consulting services? Contact 1 Degree Consulting for a Phase Zero or Advanced Discovery Meeting and let us help guide you through the regulatory landscape and navigate the pathway to compliancy. Call 707.890.6600 or email us at 1D@GoHumboldtGreen.com. Our office is open Monday through Friday 9:00 – 5:00 and we are located at 1580 Nursery Way, Suite D McKinleyville, CA 95519.
The Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities (CRTP) is a group of Humboldt and Del Norte County residents who work together to create environmentally friendly transportation projects that support the community and help boost the local economy.
CRTP submitted a letter to the Arcata Mayor and Council Members outlining a plan to redesign the Arcata Plaza to provide pedestrians priority over vehicles and to create more positive activities accessible on the plaza at all hours.
Steve Gieder of Northcoast Horticulture Supply and Humboldt Green, a member of the Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities, shared the following letter CRTP sent to the Mayor and Council Members.
Mayor and Councilmembers:
The Arcata Plaza is the cultural, civic, and historic heart of our city. The Plaza is bordered by local businesses and regularly hosts well-attended events, important for the local economy and a thriving community. But most of the time, the Plaza functions as a parking lot and is otherwise little used by local residents, families and businesspeople. This creates a social vacuum often filled by anti-social and even illegal activities. Unfortunate recent events have highlighted this problem even more starkly.
We’re happy to see a growing consensus in the community that it is time to address the Plaza’s problems head-on and help it live up to its enormous potential. We believe that two important types of changes to the Plaza can help accomplish this goal: (1) redesign the Plaza as a place for people rather than for cars; (2) make more positive activities available on the Plaza at all times. These two types of changes are in line with established principles of place-making. In other words, they will help create a self-sustaining, healthy, thriving, pro-social public space. They will also stimulate economic activity and create a symbol of support for more sustainable forms of transportation.
Therefore we ask the Council, through an appropriate public process, to create and implement a plan to revitalize life on the Arcata Plaza which includes the following ideas and proposals.
Phase 1: Low-Cost, High-Impact Plaza Redesign for People
We propose a series of near-term regulatory changes and minor infrastructure improvements that can be enacted by the Council to revitalize downtown business and make the Plaza a more social, inclusive place, including:
A. Closure of 8th and 9th Streets between G and H Streets to automobiles, with the exception of emergency vehicles and delivery vehicles
B. Amending the City Code to further encourage outdoor food/drink consumption at permitted restaurants and food carts on the Plaza, and to allow businesses to construct “parklets” for seating, eating, dining, art display, and similar activities
C. Reclassifying G and H Streets through the Plaza as 5 mph “Pedestrian Priority” roadways
D. Working with the North Coast Growers Association to create a car-free Plaza during farmers markets
E. Working with downtown businesses to create a plan for addressing safety concerns on the Plaza in a community-friendly and cost-effective manner Further infrastructure improvements to support these changes can occur over time as needed and as funding allows.
Phase 2: Adding More Activities for People
Over the medium and long term, additional infrastructure changes should take place to support positive daily use of the Plaza by a diversity of people. Such infrastructure changes could include: a permanent map of the downtown and better wayfinding signs for bikes and pedestrians; a playground; a permanent performance venue; art stalls to showcase the work of local artisans; better weatherization of social spaces on the Plaza. In implementing these or any other proposals, we encourage the City to take reasonable precautions to minimize the impacts of any construction on the Plaza on successful, established businesses and events such as the Saturday farmers markets.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Ryan Campbell, Coalition for Responsible Transportation Priorities
Coco Maki, Pasta Luego
Steve Gieder, Northcoast Horticulture Supply & Humboldt Green
Ken Hamik, Community Pride & Peace
Steve Lovett, People’s Records
Martha Jain, MJA
Tom Wheeler, EPIC
Portia Bramble, North Coast Growers Association
Chris Smith, Tuck’s Inc.
Sarah Anderson, North Country Fair
Erica Grey, MotherWoman Support
Greg King, Siskiyou Land Conservancy
North Coast People’s Alliance
Christine Champe, Stillwater Sciences
Tibora Girczyc-Blum
Jennifer Chierici
Kathleen Marshall
Deborah Waxman
Tom Sokolowski
Kim Tays
Stan Binnie
Claire Roth
Vincent Peloso
Joe James
Diane Ryerson
Robert Shearer
Mary Sanger
Aidas Worthington
On September 29th the Bureau of Cannabis Control issued a press release regarding the withdrawal of the proposed medical cannabis regulations.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 29, 2017
CONTACT: Alex Traverso, Bureau of Cannabis Control (916) 574-7546
LICENSING AUTHORITIES ANNOUNCE WITHDRAWAL OF PROPOSED MEDICAL CANNABIS REGULATIONS
Agencies Also Post Summary of Public Comments to Cannabis Web Portal
SACRAMENTO – California’s three cannabis licensing authorities announced today the official withdrawal of the medical cannabis regulations that were proposed in late spring by the Department of Consumer Affairs’ Bureau of Cannabis Control, Department of Public Health’s Manufactured Cannabis Safety Branch and Department of Food and Agriculture’s CalCannabis Cultivation Licensing. The official withdrawal will occur October 6. The proposed regulations were geared toward the implementation of the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act. These licensing authorities held hearings and accepted public comments regarding the proposed regulations during a 45-day public comment period.
However, in late June, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed into law, the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act, which creates one regulatory system for both medicinal and adult-use cannabis. Because of that action, the licensing authorities will withdraw the proposed medical regulations and will instead move forward with one regulatory package for both medicinal and adult-use cannabis.
The three cannabis licensing authorities will develop emergency regulations based on the new law and will incorporate the robust and valuable public comment received on the proposed medical cannabis regulations. The summary of public comments, as well as the responses to those comments, received by each agency—either in writing or in person at one of the public comment forums hosted by the three agencies—can be viewed by clicking the links below:
Bureau of Cannabis Control – Collected Public Comment
CA Department of Food and Ag – Collected Public Comment
CA Department of Public Health – Collected Public Comment
The licensing authorities will use the emergency rule-making process for the new regulations. The emergency regulations are expected to be published in November. The implementation date for the issuance of commercial cannabis licenses remains the same: January 1, 2018.
For additional information about the three licensing authorities, or to learn about updates as they become available, please visit the state’s Cannabis Web Portal.
Humboldt Green and New Frontier Data are working together to better understand how California’s evolving cannabis law will impact Emerald Triangle Growers. They have come up with an anonymous survey for Humboldt Growers to contribute valuable data.
These findings will shed new light on the most influential cannabis producing region in the world, and help industry newcomers better understand the investment and business opportunities available in this prosperous region.
We invite you to take part in this ground-breaking effort by taking a brief survey to share your voice and insight. Click here to take the Humboldt Cannabis Growers survey.
This study is by you and for you, so you will be the first to receive the entire report and its findings for free once completed.
Please note that all of your responses are completely anonymous, and the study will only report aggregate responses to protect the privacy and confidentiality of our survey takers.
Humboldt Green and New Frontier Data thank you for joining us on this effort!
On June 12th, John Ford the Director of Planning and Building for the County of Humboldt issued an update regarding concerns about an application deadline date for June 30, 2017. In his letter he related that there are two separate activities that share the deadline date at the end of the month.
The first activity is a call from the State Water Resources Control Board for farmers to take an active role in understanding how direct diversion of water and diversion to storage applies to your project. The deadline is set for June 30th. Contact the Division of Water Rights staff at WB-DWR-Cannabis@waterboards.ca.gov or call 916.341.5300.
The Director states in his letter that the second activity is not necessarily a deadline, but a commitment that he made back in May that states all applications completed by June 30, 2017 will be processed to decision by December 31, 2017. He reassured readers that the Planning & Building Department will continue to receive applications and process them after June 30th.
For the full letter from John Ford, Director of Planning and Building, regarding the update to the Humboldt County Cannabis Permit Application process, please click here.
