Jan 27, 2025
Juliet Lemar
Juliet is your community news reporter covering the South Coast of Santa Barbara County.
The smell of Cannabis farms in Carpinteria has been a heated topic for over 7 years.
"I do notice it. Most especially at the corner of Casitas Pass and Casitas Pass, where it turns to go into town," said resident Andy Fox.
Fox says cannabis smells don’t bother him but if it impacts the community, something should be done.
"It's no different than putting, waste into the river, so you need to mitigate it," said Fox.
According to the County about half the total number of cannabis farms in Santa Barbara County are in Carpinteria and depending on who you ask, smell is an issue.
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"A lot of it started with the kids that go to Carpinteria High School, their parents smelling this odor daily, having a hard time competing in athletics because of the stench, headaches, etc." explained County Supervisor Chair Laura Capps.
Last week county supervisors voted 5-0 in favor of requiring multi-technology carbon "scrubbers" at cannabis farms in Carpinteria to reduce odors.
"We've known about this technology. It's expensive, but the county has not required it of operations until, just now," said Capps.
Countywide cannabis is big business, generating over $55 million dollars in tax revenue since 2018 according to Santa Barbara County. But it also comes with pushback. Over 3,700 odor complaints have been filed since 2018, and not one was investigated by the county, according to Supervisor Capps. Supervisor Roy Lee says this is a problem.
"The complaints have gone down, but that’s because people have given up. They lost trust in the government. And it's time we put it back in," said Lee.
Farmlane, Everbloom, and CARP growers were contacted several times for this report but none agreed to an interview.
"We're not here to demonize the cannabis growers. We're here to face an odor that has been a problem for far too long in our county," said Lee.
With the new ordinance, growers have 12 months to install "scrubbers" or “equivalent effective technology” at their own cost or risk losing their license. County Planning is reviewing the topic and it will come back to the board for a vote on March 25.
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