Status of Cannabis Integration Program Approach
On January 9, 2018, the Board approved a three-pronged strategy for the County’s cannabis program. Although complementary and part of an integrated program approach, each strategy will operate on its own timeline. The updated schedule for the comprehensive cannabis program is listed below. The schedule is also included in Attachment A.
- June 2018 Tax Measure (Status: 79% voter approval of Measure K; Board action on resolution creating a Citizen’s Oversight Committee and Expenditure Plan general framework – Complete; Board action on the proposed conflict of interest and disclosure requirements for the Citizen Oversight Committee and final framework for the Cannabis Tax Expenditure Plan – Fall 2018);
- Development of the cannabis land use ordinance (CLUO) (Status: Citizen Advisory Committee, Planning Commission, and public outreach meetings on the draft of the CLUO – Complete; Board of Supervisors meeting on CLUO public outreach efforts – Complete; Issuance of Notice of Preparation for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) – Complete; Draft PEIR to be released – November 2018). The schedule for the development of the CLUO and CEQA PEIR schedule is included in Attachment A.
- Early Implementation Development Agreements (Status: Final application due date July 26, 2018 - Complete; Schedule for processing the nine applications received is dependent on when the CEQA process begins and the type of CEQA compliance document required to be prepared. The timeframe could range from approximately December 2018- July 2019.)
In November 2017, staff issued a Cannabis Nursery and Processing Facility Request for Proposals (RFP) for up to three nursery licenses and up to three processing facility licenses, as part of a pilot project. Applicants could also propose to enter into a development agreement. In January 2018, Dark Heart Nursery timely submitted a proposal in response to the RFP and requested to enter into a development agreement. However, in February 2018, Dark Heart Nursery submitted a request to postpone the advancement of their original proposal to enable them to identify an alternative site and submit a revised proposal for a new site. The County received the revised Dark Heart proposal, which included a development agreement proposal, in June 2018.
Dark Heart Nursery Revised Request for Proposals Submittal
The purpose of this Board item is to determine whether the revised Dark Heart proposal should be further evaluated, including but not limited to review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The planning and environmental review process would include an analysis of potential impacts on community character, the environment, and other matters. This recommended action is to consider whether the proposed project demonstrates sufficient compliance with the criteria used in evaluating proposals to warrant further review and to authorize that further review.
As stated above, in November 2017, staff issued a RFP for a limited number of cannabis nursery and processing facility licenses. Prospective applicants were required to submit a mandatory Letter of Interest and attend a mandatory applicant’s conference in order to submit an application. Dark Heart complied with the mandatory pre-filing requirements and submitted an application by the January 12, 2018 deadline. However, on February 21, 2018, staff received a request from Dan Grace, President of Dark Heart Nursery, to postpone the advancement of the Dark Heart Nursery proposal to provide time for the company to evaluate locating its nursery on an alternative site.
On June 1, 2018, staff received a revised proposal from Dark Heart proposing a new site for the project. The new site is located on County Road 89, between County Roads 27 and 28 (the originally proposed site was located on County Road 88, between County Roads 26 and 27). The revised proposal has been evaluated by the review team. A summary of the revised Dark Heart Nursery proposal, proposal review results, and staff’s recommendation regarding further evaluation and environmental review are provided below.
Revised Dark Heart Proposal
The revised Dark Heart Nursery site is located on the east side of County Road 89 between County Road 27 and County Road 28. The proposed project would be located on a 57-acre parcel which is zoned A-N, Agricultural Intensive. A portion of the parcel is in a flood zone; however, the project structures would be located outside of this area. The parcel has been actively farmed in rice. The site is bordered by farmland in active production. It is also near other agricultural businesses including the Westside Transplants nursery. In addition, Hedgerow Farms, a native seed manufacturer and Sunsweet Dryers, a prune processor are located nearby. The nearest residence is approximately 765 feet from the nursery fence line and approximately 1,000 feet from the closest greenhouse structure. In addition, there are no youth-oriented facilities, schools, school bus stops, parks, churches, residential treatment facilities, or federal lands held in trust by the federal government or that is the subject of a trust application for a federally recognized tribe, within 1,000 feet of the proposed project site, as required by the Interim Ordinance.
The proposed nursery would include up to three greenhouse structures and a structure for production equipment and processes. The first structure, referred to as the “mom house” would contain vegetative growing plants primarily used as source material for the nursery’s propagation activities. The mom house would be approximately 60,000 square feet and would contain a variety of amenities required to cultivate plants, including: automatic shading systems, bench conveyance systems, evaporative pad-cooling systems, automatic louvered vents for cooling, and lighting for daylight extension.
The second greenhouse structure is referred to as the “propagation house”. The propagation house would be approximately 30,000 square feet and is primarily used to finish young plants. It includes all the amenities of the mom house and additional systems to promote the health of fragile young cuttings such as high-pressure fog systems and under bench heating. The mom house and the propagation house would be connected by a head house which would be approximately 40,000 square feet. The head house would contain the nursery’s production machinery and most production processes. It would also contain areas for shipping, warehousing, and administrative activities. A fourth greenhouse structure for seed production or research could be added in the future.
Other site amenities would include well and water treatment and delivery systems, a commercial septic system, propane gas service, paved driveway and parking, wastewater and process water management systems and groundwater recharge areas, and landscaping which would surround the facility.
Lighting for the greenhouses would be controlled utilizing internal greenhouse shade cloth which would automatically be engaged when artificial light is used. The applicant does not believe odor would be a concern since nursery plants produce very little aroma. However, if in the future flowering plants are grown for seed production or research, the applicant states that they would be grown in a fully enclosed greenhouse facility with odor mitigation equipment as part of the exhaust systems. Dark Heart Nursery intends to participate in Valley Clean Energy Alliance. The revised Dark Heart proposal is included in Attachment B.
Staff will track environmental and other concerns raised during the discussion of this item, but does not intend to respond to those concerns during the presentation of this item. Those concerns would be addressed in the CEQA process and otherwise evaluated before this project is presented to the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors for further consideration.
Proposal Evaluation
The RFP review process had two phases. Phase 1 consisted of an evaluation of the proposal for completeness and content and was worth 1,000 points. The evaluation consisted of a review of the proposal components which included:
- The Project Description, Site Plan, and Zoning Designation
- Environmental Site Information
- Neighborhood Compatibility Information
- Environmental Considerations
- Safety and Security Plan
- Operating Plan
- Business Plan
- Experience
- Community Benefits Plan
Each of the sections above were worth 100 points, except the neighborhood compatibility information which was worth 200 points.
The Phase 1 application evaluation was conducted by representatives from the Yolo Resource Conservation District, County staff from Community Services, the Cannabis Task Force (including the rural fire district representative), Department of Financial Services, County Counsel, and the County Administrator’s Office. The Yolo County Farm Bureau and Center for Land Based Learning were on the original RFP review team; however, they were unable to participate in the review of the revised Dark Heart Nursery proposal.
Consistent with the review of the original proposal, the Community Benefits section was not assigned a score because a range of benefits were provided in the proposals originally received. This made it difficult to score this proposal component, since based on the RFP evaluation criteria for the community benefits component, applicants were to be “scored on a relative basis against one another”.
The Phase 2 review process consisted of an interview and site visit worth 100 points each. The purpose of the Phase 2 interview and site visit was to ask questions about and verify the information in the proposals. The Phase 2 participants consisted of representatives from the Cannabis Task Force (including the rural fire district representative), Community Services, Sheriff’s Office, and the County Administrator’s Office. The review of the Dark Heart proposal was an internal process. However, the neighbors located closest to the project site were informed that a revised proposal was submitted.
The total maximum points achievable from both the Phase 1 proposal evaluation and Phase 2 interview and site visit is 1200. Based on the Phase 1 and Phase 2 review of the revised Dark Heart Nursery proposal, the total points received is 1,105. In comparison, the original proposal received 1,143 points.
Based on the review of the Dark Heart proposal, interview, and site visit, staff believes that Dark Heart’s application is acceptable for processing and recommends that it proceed to the CEQA process for an evaluation of environmental impacts. Other factors relating to whether the project is suitable for approval—including all issues bearing on the findings necessary to approve a development agreement—will also be carefully analyzed. The CEQA process will include public notification and involvement, and an evaluation of the potential environmental impacts from construction and operation of the project. Upon completion of the CEQA process, the project will be presented at noticed public hearings to the Planning Commission for recommendation and the Board for final action. |