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Open Letter To The Mendocino County Planning Commission, which will meet at 10:00 am on 3/19/2021. They are considering allowing “Rangeland” to become “Ag-Land” which will result in large tracts of land in Mendocino County becoming corporate cannabis fields. We are facing a drought, wells in rural Mendocino County are already drying up (in March!) and four members of our Board of Supervisors have voted to allow this zoning change to occur. Third District Supervisor John Haschak had the courage to say “No” but we need the other members to join him.
March 19, 2021
Dear Honorable Planning Commissioners:
Regarding the proposed change to the county zoning, which would allow rangeland to become weedland, I strongly request that you reject such a proposal. We have strived to keep a balance in Mendocino County, and now that balance is being swayed by corporate greed.
Can any single person convince us that there isn’t already enough land to cultivate cannabis in Mendocino County?
Of course not. There are tens of thousands of acres available but corporate-America wants to suck up large tracts of rangeland and thumb their nose at what we have done to protect the integrity of our county.
Can any single person convince us that there is a danger of a cannabis shortage because of the lack of land to cultivate in Mendocino County (or any county in California)?
Of course not. There is a glut of cannabis and the price continues to plummet. The black market is now dominating the price of cannabis and encouraging growth on rangeland will only allow the dominance to continue.
Please understand your role as a planning commissioner. Your role is to maintain the integrity of the zoning ordinance(s) and prevent history from looking back and showing where the integrity was lost. We must not allow our generation to be the loose cannon that didn’t think a solution through.
Please send a convincing signal to the Board of Supervisors, reminding them that they should not be loyal to the large cannabis corporations who want to dominate the cannabis market. Their (our) loyalty should be at the feet of our ancestors who worked hard to protect our range land and open fields for generations to come, not at the feet of corporations who want to turn millions into billions.
If there is ever a cannabis shortage in the future, maybe that would be the time to reevaluate but we all know that time will never arrive.
Tom Allman
Resident of the Third District
Sheriff, Retired
