 And in charge of the cannabis licensing unit. I want to give a brief Shout-out to Jim coffers who wants to make a quick announcement for green trade So go ahead Jim I just want to quickly Announce a green trade Is going to hold an event on May 9th Wednesday at the resource center for non-violence across the street here It's going to be a workshop for anybody that is looking to Jump into the licensing process We're assembling a group of service providers attorneys Accountants land use planners You name it security Services all the different things Touchstones that you'll need In order to fill out the applications both locally and at the state so it'd be Good thing to put in your calendar Keep an eye out for it's going to be Coming into compliance and so it's May 9th In the evening 5 30 oh 9 or so. Thanks All right So tonight's workshop was initiated by our state agency partners And each of those people will be presenting a little bit later tonight None of these partners here today are the licensing authorities. I want to be very clear about that However, the idea was to give you a bit of a preview of some of the different Approvals and agencies you'll be interacting with and things you'll be needing as you Head down the path to legalization Tonight's workshop is not intended to go into detail on our ordinance Which was approved in concept on Tuesday? We expect that that ordinance will become final at the May 8th board meeting and then go into effect 30 days later on June 8th tonight will give you a few highlights about that But mostly we're here to help you understand some of the various Parts of the process going forward in the licensing process So just briefly a quick outline of tonight's meeting County staff will speak first and then our state partners will present They are the state fish and wildlife the state water board and the regional water board We'd like to ask to hold questions for everyone until everyone has completed their part of the presentation And then I just want to go over just a few quick guidelines We appreciate it if you could keep your questions to those general in nature We're not going to be able to answer site specific questions about your site However, our agency partners do have staff that are here and their tables outside So they're happy to help with more personal consultations on things if you need that So make yourself use those resources if you need to in addition There's lots of informational flyers all over the tables out back So pick those up take a look at them and that should help you as well I am going to be moderating the Q&A session So I'll call on you and then we'll need you to come and I'll have a wireless mic We'll need you to speak into the microphone because we are recording this evening Also just a brief reminder turn off those cell phones folks And if you do need to have conversations with other people Appreciate it if you'd step into the hall and away from the door because the noise this little redwood thing here Carries the noise into the room. It's a very It's like a little echo chamber and then it gets hard to hear so appreciate that So this session as I said is being recorded live And we will post it along with the PowerPoints on our cannabis licensing website And I also want to give a brief plug to the micro business summit that the county is holding on May 4th Friday This is a great opportunity for those small businesses to learn about things such as money for startups Marketing cash flow strategies and other topics So I really encourage you to go to the micro business summit comm website Take a look at the schedule and if you're interested attend that May 4th at Cabrillo College All right, that's enough for me. I want to first identify our staff tonight. So first off Vincent Charmet He is in code compliance Michael Sapanour and Loretta Moreno Loretta stepped away, but you know Loretta They are our resource planners. You've probably if you've done a pre licensing inspection You've probably met some of these people already and then of course finally I'm going to turn it over To our cannabis licensing manager Robin bolster Grant. Thanks very much Stop it Thank you. Thanks for coming out As Melody said Tuesday was a big day for us Yeah, it was almost Anti-climatic we've been working really hard as you probably know to get our ordinances in some state of finality so in concept Approved by the board and as Melody said they will return on the 8th And formally adopt the ordinance. I should mention This is one of those details that may or may not Be readily apparent but when they when they adopted it will be in effect outside the coastal zone So coastal commission gets to weigh in on the ordinance ordinance says we've had lots of conversations with them So I don't anticipate any problems But if if a property is in the coastal zone, they will not be able to move forward quite as quickly So just sort of a point of clarification there Let's see And then again 30 days after outside the coastal zone It will be in effect and we will be Hopefully ready to take in applications So some of the major changes and a lot of you folks if you've been following along you you know about these but for those Who haven't? This is these are changes that have happened over just really the past few months Some of the more important pieces the cottage garden license was a category that was added by the planning commission in March Site-specific environmental review. So each license application will also need a permit And they will be responsible for completing environmental review I've had a lot of questions about whether individual projects need to do an EIR That is incredibly unlikely Sequa review environmental review Covers it's the analysis. It's just information gathering for many projects depending on the scope. It could be you could be exempt You may need to do some review, but an EIR is Incredibly unlikely For most projects for the majority of the projects Let's see what else up there Co-location is something that came along Relatively recently that is having multiple licensees on a single parcel And master plans enable Adjacent parcels to share infrastructure These are things that came out of the EIR that we did and Hopefully will minimize new disturbance new development. That's always a goal of ours And then the beam up the very last bullet point there the best management and operations plan Everyone will be required to submit one of those with their application and we can talk more in detail I'm going to go pretty quickly through some of the rest of this The program started with cultivation and Here's just a rundown again. I'm going to go through this I should mention that this whole PowerPoint will be available on our website on our Facebook page If you haven't availed yourselves of those those resources we put a lot of information on those and and so this you don't have to take notes All of this will be available to you So these are the Cultivation license types and the zoning where cultivation can take place This is all pretty consistent with what we've been talking about for many months The minimum parcel size again This is fairly consistent the changes had to do with special use. That's su. It went away. It came back with restrictions I'm I think we landed in a pretty good place and and all of this as you folks know is That our attempt to balance the needs of the industry against well not always against but with We're all collaborative right with neighborhoods and and environmental Protection the cottage again the cottage license came up Relatively recently and we're happy about that minimum parcel size for a cottage licenses two and a half acres and there are other restrictions that go along with that maximum canopy limits You can see that we've broken down a single license versus co-location For a lot of zone districts. We really wanted to incentivize co-location. So we expanded the canopy limits so if you can grab somebody else on a parcel and Again, it's about minimizing new development and a new disruption and Then the canopy limits for some of the other zone districts. So RATP and again, we can go through any specifics But this is just a kind of an overview. I'm going to go through quickly cottage license 500 square foot is the canopy limit So Everybody who to be eligible for a license you have to either have registered with us and that was the period Toward the end of 2016 and you have to show that you've been cultivating in the county Prior to January 1st 2013. You can also be eligible if you are non cannabis farmer with three years Not a history of cultivating non cannabis. I would love to answer your questions when we're done. I'm sorry Hold your question. I will get to there every every part of this will spawn a ton of questions And so this is our first attempt. We're gonna have more workshops We're gonna, you know dial into a lot of this stuff further We just got the ordinance two days ago and we're we're trying to put this Quickly give you an overview although I never quit at anything so so the 2013 date comes up a lot in in areas that are more remote and Residential the SU which is special special use There are restrictions that require that you establish that there has been cultivation on that site the the planning Commission the board We're really concerned about folks coming into sites brand new They really didn't want to see that in a lot of cases so that that date Looms pretty pretty large in in many cases and the cottage again the cottage license has a lot of restrictions on it And this comes from the fears that that were expressed about what it means to have a commercial business in a residential area and a lot of it is based on people's perceptions and fears and You know, we'll we'll show them what it really looks like at some point I'm Not that they're not all founded but There we go Manufacturing License type sorry again. We kind of put this together all quickly So there are three three classifications infusion extraction non-volatile and then volatile extraction the zone districts for each of those basically You know match the the the impacts associated with those kinds of activities No ethanol or CO2 in in smaller RA parcels and and that the key is the second point there I think if you're Manufacturing in sites that are not commercial or industrial it has to be connected to cultivation that you're doing and there are restrictions about employees that you have and Again, we can go into into more detail on this if you're in a commercial area, you can be a standalone manufacturer and then distribution We got to this kind of kind of late didn't realize how important this was Now we do So class one class two you either are distributing your own products cannabis or cannabis products or you're distributing for somebody else in addition to yourself And then again that the zoning these are if you're Doing your own manufacturing cultivation And just distributing your own there are more choices for you where you can be if you're like a hub for many other Suppliers then you have to be in one of the commercial or or manufacturing areas and Let's see Yeah, some other some other things that come up a lot that coastal zone plus one mile buffer That is sort of a sacrosanct area and it's really limited For for cultivation Particularly I guess for everything you have to be in an existing legal structure So and that's going to help us get through the coastal commission and their review because we're saying we're not allowing new development in in the coastal zone And the one mile buffer got tacked on to that This is a while ago I think no public access that's pretty straightforward And setbacks are a whole other issue that we can talk about because I know that those are those are concerns but there are setbacks to Sensitive receptors so habitable structures of schools parks riparian zones There's a there's a range of setbacks And all of these things are things that we will be Analyzing with you and and helping you kind of walk through what your project looks like and and and helping you scope it so that so that you're in compliance and I think I will turn it over to Loretta Hello Loretta Marino resource planner So Robin's covered in a very warp speed manner The the ordinance that the two ordinances that have been adopted But I just want to really clarify for everyone that there are two ordinances you need to read together You can't read one and not the other where you might have problems. So the two work together one is more of a Operational licensing restrictions and operational requirements and then the other ordinance 1310 is what we call it Is the zoning ordinance that the planning department implements and that's going to be where you find You know your parcel size that you need what you can do in what zone district You'll get familiar with that and we're gonna have interpretive materials to help you with this as well for sure but read them together and also don't forget our little beam op which has a lot of Kind of upfront measures to minimize potential environmental impacts of any cannabis business So just best management practices but required of the operator So I'm just going to quickly go through this there's a little more text that I'm going to actually articulate but We have kind of four pieces to the best management operational practices One is citing criteria So upfront before you go and draft all your plans and design your structures with engineers or whoever you're going to work With to get this put together Depending on what you want to do you you need to find an optimal location that minimizes environmental impacts and Protects neighborhoods and we have criteria that capture that intention Restrictions on the grading you can do you can't have a cannabis cultivation site on 35% slopes for example You can't grade limit with limitless without boundary, you know We want to avoid forest fragmentation where feasible That's where Michael Sapanor and I come in and also the planning department will weigh in on how to avoid Chopping up the forest unnecessarily. We're gonna want to get your footprint as tight and well located as possible Of your struck development and roads and everything avoiding sensitive biological resources This is our goal And then the next piece of the best management operational practices be mop is what we call it for short is site design So once you've kind of located where you want to be how you design your site where you're placing your fencing for both Security and also maybe to avoid wildlife Wildlife intruding on your crop or what have you we want to protect The wildlife in the area, so we want to minimize nighttime lighting that intrudes on wildlife natural behavior And also the fencing requirements may be you know to prevent the need to for example want to use rodenticides Most people don't seem to want to be using those they're actually not legal at the state level But for the public we want to make sure they understand that you're protecting your crop proactively and Yeah, water resource protection and efficiency measures taken the next piece is construction requirements Just briefly how you are constructing your when you're in construction mode how you protect wildlife like nesting birds if applicable Working hours you can't do the construction at two in the morning things of that nature and then the last piece are operational requirements So what we want to do is? Capture your day-to-day what your employees are doing their protection and safety on a day-to-day basis Things like that again I think I already I guess I mixed a few things up with the night lighting and hazardous material storage things things like this You want to be aware in this document, and you're gonna have to put it packet together addressing these questions So You know most of you all know this but you're working with the state to get a state license, and you're working with us to Get your local license The county of Santa Cruz Cannabis licensing office and planning department will work together to help you get your legal local License, and then you go to the state with this So just to be clear on that process not everyone realizes and then now Robin is going to explain this Little chart. This is a flow chart that I Don't want to do this part Robin is going to explain this piece This is just how the flow of your permits are going to go just so you get a taste for the process to come Yeah, it wasn't it wasn't working so well don't be alarmed Our whole goal in I mean we've had to track where the ordinances went and what we did with Environmental review and sequin all that and so it it it ended up with this bifurcated Process where you're getting both a license from the licensing office and a use permit from planning I worked in planning for 16 years. I know a lot about their process And and you're always going to start with us so so to just boil this down into simple Concepts you start with us and we scope your project. We need a description You need to tell us and and a plan that's not you know like a cocktail napkin with crayon on it that's like a real plan and and you know describe all the elements of your project and We will tell you exactly what you need to submit to planning and for us And you will take everything you'll come back and say I did I did what you told me I got all the stuff I need I have my biotic study. I have engineered or or architect drawn plans I have my my b-mop I have all of these things now. I'm ready and we'll send you with the Canna clearance. It's way too cute At the bottom left saying you've got everything. We're not analyzing it in in super super detail We're just saying that you have checked all the boxes that we told you to check You're you're you're ready to submit and and then you will go down to the planning department and submit And at the same time we'll be working on the licensing piece and the licensing piece comes last, right? So you you have to get through the the use approval process and and that involves Sending copies of your plans and your your program statement to various other agencies Environmental health public works The ad commission right all these other folks are gonna weigh in and say that looks good Or you're you need this or that just like any other Discretionary process. I want to you know make sure that you know, we're not picking on cannabis This is really what everybody has to go through not that not the licensing piece But the but the the discretionary process if you are opening up a coffee store You would store shop. I'm so tired. Sorry Coffee store is You would have to go through the same process so a lot of applications are gonna need a Public hearing that's the way that the ordinance Was written if you're in one of the more remote areas or if you're in a Residential area anything really except for the the commercial and manufacturing type zone districts You're probably gonna need a public hearing, but we are going to give you all the information that you need We're not your consultants You will need consultants. I'll get to that in a minute This is not a do-it-yourself kind of Proposal there there are a lot of technical pieces to this and I wouldn't try to do this and I like I said I've been working planning for a really long time I would hire somebody who knows and understands how permitting works or at least engineer Biologists some of the other folks that you're gonna need you're gonna need a team and Our job is again not to be your consultant not even really to to make sure you're successful It's to give you all the information that you need so you can make the right choices about the scope of your project and about how you move forward right, so I Don't know what else I wanted to say about that. That was like little manifesto. I just didn't mean to go there Well, I just we have a lot of folks come in and say, you know, how do I how do I start? Well, we can give you the tools, but we can't run your project for you So and that's hard if you haven't been through the the permitting process Santa Cruz is very liberal in lots of ways they embrace Legalization of cannabis, but you notice we don't have a Walmart. We don't have a lot of development So development has always been a challenge and in this county whether it's cannabis or not Application again, that's we'll we'll help you with that. We'll have more information As we get closer to the effective date in June, we'll have Application packets will give you an idea of what we're looking for a lot of that stuff is already in the beam op and and already Sort of you can into it by reading through the ordinance as well. I give you should be a lot in consultants. Sorry Time and fees We haven't set the fees the fees have to be approved by the board The budget process we're coming up on so we'll have an idea of what the fees are in June We realize we don't want to make them so prohibitive that people disappear But we have to pay for a program. So so we're gonna try to find that sweet spot and And make it something that's doable for as many people as possible The time that it takes to process is Largely dependent on the scope of work and how diligent you folks are in putting together the things that we need so I don't know what else to say about the timepiece, but Efficiency is is our goal. I promise and and and this bifurcated piece Will be streamlined to the extent that we can and oh So the pre-license inspections and this just applies to the the cultivation We promise folks who did pre-license inspections that they got priority process Processing and so we're honoring that so the first applicant pool Will be from the PLI list First in you know get gets the first first crack And we'll set up a schedule. It'll be appointment only we want to make sure we're not totally overwhelmed And we'll let you know where when that starts, but We'll get to everybody as quickly as we can the interim piece is really important for folks that We're having people say, you know, I got my license and so now, you know, no, we haven't issued any licenses We have issued some folks who are existing operators local authorization letters, which is a little bit of a misnomer, but that idea was we wanted to make sure that folks were who are already in operation who basically complied with Environmental protection and other rules weren't shut down. And so we gave folks Letter that they could submit to the state for a temporary state license Those are starting to run out for some folks We are in conversation with the state. We don't run the state's process But they know that people are coming up against a sort of eke now. What do I do? We have ideas about Bridging that for folks again if you're in operation and you're basically compliant with all the rules We want to do our part to make sure To the extent that we can that you can continue to be in operation without expanding And and and still qualify for either extending your temp license I've already started to get some inquiries from the state on on annual licensing So I guess that's still just to to extend so I'm sorry if I'm speaking past Some folks but the people that have gone through the temporary licensing process Have real concerns about continuing so just know that we're talking to folks and and and they're they're doing their part Because they know that a lot of jurisdictions like Santa Cruz are not ready for prime time And so we don't have licenses to give to everybody just yet obviously More workshops at least One more before we start taking in applications and then after that we'll have we'll have more of these I will have gotten some sleep, and I will be much more coherent and And we'll know more the the first the first pool of Folks that come in will be like we all have been sort of guinea pigs and and we'll be sitting down with planning with the environmental planners that work downstairs and will be sort of You know doing a team evaluation to sort of see what works And and then we'll have more information to give you but but workshops and Outreach are going to be a huge part of what we do obviously Educational materials we're working on that Right now Read the ordinances Read through the beam op That really will give you an idea of the things that were that we're looking for It's not all the stuff that the state is asking for we can answer some of those questions But not all the nice folks here can answer some of those on behalf of what the state is looking for build your team you're gonna need help and And and you know ask us questions, but again not that sort of should I go forward or not? I'm not gonna answer that I get that a lot. It's weird like what do you think I should do Robin? I don't I don't know I don't want to take on that responsibility I'll tell you what it means if you do this versus that and what that process looks like But you guys all have to make business decisions go to the expo find out if you don't already How to write a business plan how to do a marketing plan? You know be like business people which you are But make your own decisions, but we'll help Anything else? Oh, there it is. There's the plug micro business summit Go sign up. It's cheap That's all I have All right, and now we're gonna move on to one second actually who wants to go first All right, we're gonna start with fish and wildlife California Department of Fish and Wildlife they have some message to deliver They have a message to deliver to you and they kind of want to go over some basics about permitting again and refresh you So we have Heather McIntyre from Fish and Wildlife, and she's a senior environmental scientist with Fish and Wildlife Thank You Loretta What's the magic button? Melody look out Thank you So California is really unique in the nation. We have the highest Biodiversity of any other state in the nation. Oh, look, I'm making the mouse move. Maybe I should put that down okay, and And it's it's we are so unique. We have the highest diversity of Plants fish Wildlife and habitats we have redwood and sequoia forests We have some of the most productive farmlands in the nation We have in my opinion one of the most beautiful coastlines as well and Santa Cruz is really a microcosm of all these things that we have here in California and which makes you very special and very unique and So today I'm gonna I'm gonna be speaking mostly to cultivators when you are cultivator. That's where you need to come talk with us I'm gonna tell you a little bit about our thought processes and what we think about is we're going through applications and Provide you with some options on how to proceed with an application or a notification and what you'll need to do that Good news is there's a lot of overlap between what we need and what the county needs And so you're gonna be able to use a very large proportion of what you're preparing for the county to process and move forward with us So so when we think when we think at the department level about resource protection We're looking first of all at an individual site. We're looking very site specifically about that For example, if we're looking at it at a At a diversion we're gonna look at the size of that diversion and maybe what species are in the area But in the back of our mind, we're also gonna be thinking about the impacts potentially from a watershed perspective Where does this stream that you're diverting from go? How important is that portion of water to that stream where it's going what animals are gonna be? Be affected by that. So we start looking specific site specifically We start thinking watershed and we go forward from there But this is just kind of how our minds operate when we're talking with you So again, we start looking first at site specific concerns And then we'll start thinking about cumulative impacts. That is part of our role is to evaluate cumulative impacts as well So some of the questions that we get asked are what is a stream? Well a stream can be a couple of things one it can be what you expect water flowing down across your property That is definitely a perennial stream that we work with you may also have an episodic stream or a stream That's dry maybe most of the year or maybe it only has flowing water when you have Storm or some good rainfall. There's also an ephemeral stream, which is You know, it's very desert It may be that there's only water in that one's every five or ten years Probably not here in Santa Cruz But these are all streams and these are all things that the department is interested in talking with you about if they're on your property Summer flow from a stream is especially important We have we're very concerned about the quality of the stream and the quality of the habitat as the water is going through our concerns are if there is Significant reduction and water flow in the summer then that stream is going to become less productive There's going to be less food. There's going to be a lot less oxygen And these are all not good things to help us maintain this unique biodiversity that we have in California wrong button Oh Thank you So another question that we get asked frequently is what is substantial and this is a little trickier This is a very site-specific question. So when we're looking at a site and again, I'm using a Diversion we're look at everything this way So where is the diversion? How big is the diversion? Are is it enlisted species habitat? When are the diversions occurring and how big is it? How much water is being drawn and we kind of look at all these things and piece them together to determine if an effect is Substantial and it's very site-specific. It's very individual specific. It's not a Single solid criteria where we can say x y and z we need to look at each facility individually And the in the reason we do this and this is goes back to kind of how we think so we look we look at Your facility or a facility and we think about it in context with Others and others within a watershed and we're looking at cumulative impacts. So 2012 2016 you can see in 2016 a lot more Habitat loss a lot more habitat fragmentation These are going to cause much larger impacts to local species. These are the kinds of things we think about when we're evaluating facilities same light light pollution Before and after this can cause biological consequences These are important things that we need to keep track of So get permitted that's the that's the good news and Again, we are working primarily with cultivators cultivators only This is to let you know that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Requires that you notify us and talk to us about your your project And then in addition to that the California Department of Food and Ag Requires you to have something from us in order to get their license And what you need from us is either an agreement or you need a letter stating that you don't need an agreement And we can talk about how we get there the challenging thing is is that I Would say maybe some of the businesses have been around maybe five or ten or twenty years And they're existing so when you look at our page and we look into notification or the application process You'll say well, I'm not doing construction. I'm not installing a culvert But I have one on my property and I use it to access my grow but I'm not installing one and Even though you're not installing it as part of coming into compliance you need to tell us about it and We include that in your notification We include that in your agreement and then you're covered So it's a little a little weird there because when other people come to us for an agreement There it's because they're doing construction and as we bring the cultivators into compliance We need to know what you have now So there's a little bit of a difference thing But do bear in mind that what we're asking you to do is not different of what we ask anyone else to do Who is doing construction in a stream or in the area? Oh, that's what I was gonna say here So we that we're asking you to do the same things we ask everyone else so activities that require an agreement if if you are Working in a stream bed Installing or in your case maybe have a culvert on your property if you're changing removing riparian vegetation We want to know about it just include it when you come to us Tell us about your project and include what you're working on so that we know how to Address your agreement and how to get you through the process as quickly as possible Here's my fancy when I don't have a do not pass go and I was looking for one. I'll have you know So so the really good news is is a lot of the information we require You're already pulling together for the county and that's gonna be very helpful to you And that's also gonna be very helpful to us because the level of detail that they're asked that the county is asking For is the level of detail that we need and most frequently when people come to us They provide us with a very minimal project description and we can't make any progress with that So that stops the process right there and then we have to come to you and say give us some more information So when you come to us provide us with these detailed site plans provide us with your detailed project description That you're providing to the county and that's gonna work very well for all of us and to help you through the process So the process You have two options when you come to the department We have a paper process and we have an online process and i'm going to walk through the online process and then tell you about the paper process in just a moment First thing you have to do is come to our website and register This is my name. This is where I am and then we come back and say we accept your registration And then you come and you provide us with this pre notification or this application information And you can see some of the things that we require there again. This is where you bring in your project description This is where you come and you tell us what be mops you're doing and You provide this information and the more information you provide us the faster and easier this process will go for both of us Once you provide if we're going to go down the center path here Provide us this basic information to information There are a couple of questions So you look at the questions and determine where your facility fits into those questions One option you may be given is to self-certify When you self-certify You check the boxes and you sign it and then the department looks at your Information that you provided and at that point we may just provide you with A letter stating that no agreement is necessary and that's what everyone calls them waivers. It's not technically a waiver It's a letter stating you don't need an agreement You can take that to cdfa and you're good to go from our perspective So that's one process for self-certification. This self-certification process is typically for very simple Simple setups. Um, if you're in a warehouse building on municipal water with municipal sewage You're more likely to be able to get through the self-certification process other types of Facilities do go through that process as well, but the simple ones are the ones that go through that process and it's pretty quick The other Process is the general agreement and you provide us with all that Great information that you gathered for the county and The first thing you need to do is read the general agreement. This is like It's just an it's an agreement with predetermined conditions and when you sign online That you want a general agreement you are saying that you will comply with all of the Components and conditions that are in the general agreement So I highly recommend you read it first so that you know what you're What you're getting yourself into it's not nothing terribly difficult Just we want you to be aware because we do intend to do compliance checks Follow-ups making sure that you're following these conditions So once you provide all that information and you say yes, I want a general agreement Um fishing game or fishing wildlife excuse me We take a look at it and you're issued a general agreement you take your general agreement to the california department of food and egg and you're done If your project your program doesn't meet the criteria of a general agreement You may be asked to go through the standard agreement process and the difference between the standard agreement and The general agreement is your general agreement is all kind of Prewritten and you sign it and we go here you go when you go to the standard agreement process It's not a bad thing. It just means that we're going to work with you as an individual And site specifically to help you develop the conditions in your agreement. We're going to have that conversation It's a one-on-one process So that's that's the primary difference between those two They're both five-year programs or five-year agreements. You can get them for up to five years. So that's not different But that standard agreement process gives us the opportunity to work with you as individuals and Work specific to your project If you want a paper application, you can contact us and we'll send you a paper application Your only option with a paper application or paper notification is the standard agreement So, uh The county that you work the who you work with is dependent on your county. I'm assuming you're all santa cruz county You'll be working with the bay delta region. That's our general phone number The people who work specifically in santa cruz county are here and i'll introduce them before I leave And we'll be available in the hall to answer your questions as best we can We have a lot of experience between the whole team And what if you don't what if you decide it's just too much work? There are penalties. There are fines and they are significant Be aware of that and take that into consideration. You need to protect your business and come into compliance There are people who love their code Here is the code It's online you can look it up But these are the code sections that we typically use when we are working through this process with you So The takeaway message is get a permit Work with us. We want to work with you. We want to bring you into compliance It's a challenging time what we're going through of moving moving into this More standardized process And so come talk with us. Let's protect your investment Let's protect california's natural resources and I believe we can do this together And I believe that the state can have both a prosperous cannabis industry And we can protect this unique amazing place where we live and I know we can do this together So just come and talk with us and let's start that conversation And here we are and I want to point out the people they're gonna love me for this So andy rock river right here. This is santa cruz county. He's our supervisor Stephanie holstead She is my counterpart in santa cruz and hiding behind the redwood is cori Gray and cori is awesome. She's on our watershed enforcement team. She has a lot of information She is very experienced and can help us all out very much So that's what I have for you today And thank you very much and I look forward to working with all of you. Oh and one more plug We have informational meetings coming up that are fish and wildlife focused starting in late june july So as soon as we get that information Available on our times and dates. We'll let you know so you can come join us and we'll talk more in detail about the processes that we're working through Thank you Thank you. Heather. That was really a fantastic presentation and uh, yeah And we are gonna put that PowerPoint on our website as well as the other talks today just so you all know So now we're gonna switch over to water the theme of water in a little more detail with the state water resources control board and the regional water quality control board who work together to implement the state's cannabis water Program and so I wanted to point out that brian moore with the state water board is here He's with the department of water quality. He won't speak. He's in the audience, but he'll answer your questions in the hall He's not a speaker today. He will speak to you. He's not a speaker He's a water resource control engineer and then we also have From the state board roberto servantes And uh, he's a senior senior engineer with a division of water rights for cannabis And he's gonna he is going to speak here up here today And then we have la la moine with the regional water quality control board and she's a water resource control engineer With the irrigated lands Regulatory program, so they're going to talk to you in tandem about what they have to say about water Here we go Thanks for having me. Um I'm just gonna dive in here So we'll talk about what the water board's sort of Um stake is in all of this like why why you have contact with us at all in this licensing process um State board versus regional board. What's the difference? Why are there so many? um, the cannabis general order Which is kind of the meat of this of of our involvement, um Attachment a of the general order which really dives into the requirements um, we'll talk a little bit about how to enroll and then The water rights component of the general order too. So um, so the responsibility of the water board is to ensure the effects of water diversion and discharge of waste associated with Cannabis cultivation do not affect groundwater or service water quality So I want to make sure that whatever's happening on site isn't going to cause pollution and service water or groundwater um The cannabis general order is a Waste discharge requirement developed by the state water board um that And in the cannabis general order dives into who's who needs to enroll who gets a waiver and I'll go into that um, what type of monitoring and reporting requirements you might have um, what how we determine your tier and risk assessment um, and then the policy also called attachment a has The details of what the requirements are So write down that website And go and download the general order and read it. I'm going to talk about some kind of high level stuff The things we get the most questions on but it's not comprehensive at all So you'll want to go and read about the nitty-gritty of all of the the requirements Um, uh, this is going to be also provided to you this this presentation. So if you don't get all the Pictures, so, uh, who does what the state water board developed the order It's a statewide order every single cannabis cultivator in the state has is subject to the same permit requirements um So the state water board wrote the order and they also implement the small irrigation use registration Which is the water rights component. So if you need a water quality waste discharge requirement You'll be working with this regional water board if you need a water, right, you'll be working with state water board um It's just how it got divided up. Um, so Water board the regional water board implements the water quality portion of it Why do we have the order so regions one in region five, which is the kind of trinity humble North coast area and then the central valley have had regional orders for a few years now um After they noticed a lot of cannabis cultivation and a lot of pollution associated with cannabis cultivation And here's some photos of what they saw. So trash pesticides fertilizers stored In ways that very much posed threats to water quality lots of erosion sedimentation and increased turbidity and surface water septic waste more septic waste illegal surface water diversions and reductions in flow um all cannabis cultivators need to Apply for coverage in some way or another There's a few exceptions which I'll get into but I think good sort of working assumption at this point is if you're a cannabis cultivator You're going to want to come to us So Let's see it's in the regional board myself and my colleague James who's not here, but you'll I'm sure have contact with him at some point likely We sort of implement the day-to-day we'll do site visits. We issue the notice of applicabilities We sort of assist with compliance assistance So you'll most likely be dealing with us So who is applicable all commercial cannabis cultivators must apply for coverage the if you're an outdoor site greater than 2000 square feet You will enroll as tier one or tier two If you're an outdoor site less than 2000 square feet um You're considered conditionally exempt you apply for coverage, but you'll get a waiver If you're an indoor site and a truly indoor site meaning you have a concrete or asphalt or otherwise impermeable floor You're also considered conditionally exempt and you get a waiver to the wdr um a greenhouse with the dirt floor is is Considered outdoor. Yeah Personal use exemption does exist if your personal use grower and you're not selling you don't have to come to us at all you're legally exempt The exemptions don't limit our um ability to come and inspect you so if you're an indoor grower or You're less than 2000 square feet, but we notice that there may be Activities on site that are impairing water quality. We still have the authority to Come and do an inspection and then if we realize that you're not meeting the conditions of the order You may be required to enroll at that point I touched on this and it's something that we're seeing is tripping up a lot of growers Maybe less so in Santa Cruz where there's less fewer greenhouses But in order to be indoor you have to have a permanent structure and a relatively impermeable floor So concrete asphalt something like that Compacted dirt is considered imper is considered permeable. And so that would be an outdoor grower for the For the order. Yeah, I'm sorry if it's confusing Um So if you're a greenhouse you have a dirt floor you're going to be tier one or tier two Okay, another thing that's tripping up some folks So it's good to get ahead of it If you're an indoor grower truly indoor grower, you're going to have three options on your application to choose where your waste is going a community sewer system on site treatment something like a septic or Or you can store and haul um if you Some of these may require Additional permitting so the general order coverage under the general order doesn't necessarily satisfy all the water board requirements. If you have a septic system typically they're um Regulated by the county sometimes they're not depends on the number of folks that's servicing So just come to us and we'll figure it out if there's any industrial waste going into the septic system That makes things a lot more complicated. You'll definitely want to come to us. It should only be domestic waste um, and now this next bullet applies to indoor and outdoor grows If you have RO residual Some kind of filter wash water any kind of filter water residual And on-site cheap treatment systems that are generating industrial waste um Also come to us because that Could require additional permitting. So just email us and ask and we'll figure it out Okay, so here's how to figure out what tier you're in less than 2,000 square feet or truly indoor you're conditionally exempt 2,000 square feet up to an acre is tier one More than one acre is tier two um And beyond that you're assigned a risk designation if you're with if you're outside of the setback And on a slope less than 30 percent You're low risk if you are on a slope More than 30 percent but outside of the setback. You're a moderate risk I'll get into it. Sorry. There's an next slide is about the setbacks So the setback is referring to distance from sorry. I should have flipped those slides distance from surface water body stream Um, and then the the high risk is if you're within the setback. So I think it's in the very next slide It's not it's in a couple sides, but I'll get into the setback. So if you have a stream on your property um, depending on whether it's class one class two or class three, which is It essentially lines up with a perennial ephemeral intermittent designation that um, you guys heard about already It can be 50 100 or 150 feet back that you'll need to be away from that surface water. Um So but we'll talk about that a little more in a few So this is just broad categories that the requirements and attachment a cover for a period and wetland protection and management Water diversion storage and use irrigation runoff land development soil disposal Scream stream crossing installation and maintenance. You'll notice a lot of overlap with what cdfa's or cdfw is going to be looking for um, fertilizer soil Soil use and storage pesticide herbicide application and storage petroleum products storage. Um, get the idea cultivated related cultivation related waste disposal winterization winterization is a big one um So i'm going to just dive into a few these really broadly Not comprehensive at all. So go read the order and Figure out what it means for your site, but i'm just going to talk about some of the things you get the most questions about um Okay So no grading on activities on slopes greater than 50 percent or is restricted by local ordinance regulations Sounds like Santa Cruz has a more stringent requirement of 35 percent on this one 20 20 so this doesn't even apply to you guys Um, finish slopes cannot exceed 50 percent. We see a lot of cut slopes on sites that are just bare exposed soil like that We don't want that Land development road construction must be designed by a qualified professional the order defines qualified professional um Incorporate erosion and sediment detention devices and materials into design work schedule and implementation of activity So if you're looking at your site, you have a lot of exposed Unstabilized soil That's something that you're going to want to deal with um So winterization refers to getting your site ready for winter um Implement all erosion control and soil disposal and soils management requirements in addition to winterization So all of your soil storage needs to be bermed and covered Any syrup soil just needs to make sure that's going to stay in place when it rains so stabilized No operation of heavy equipment during the winter period um, apply linear sediment controls like these straw logs, um Maintain culverts drop inlets trash racks, etc all before the winter period begins stabilized disturbed areas Cover and store stockpile materials Okay, setbacks. Um, this is the thing we probably get the most questions about um because And Heather mentioned it you may have a stream on your site and not really I think of it as a stream, but it is a stream um Because it only gets rain once every or only you only see flow in it once every year or two years um, so if you're Near a pruning a water cork course. It's 150 intermittent 100 ephemeral 50 a man made If there's a aquatic native aquatic life, it's outside of the established riparian buffer if there's no Native aquatic life. It's just the edge of the there's there's no setback So um, and this refers to all land disturbance associated with the cannabis Site including storage of vehicles diesel powered pump water storage and chemical toilet placement So irrigation runoff is not allowed See irrigation runoff tail water sediment plant waste or chemicals none of these things can migrate off site via your irrigation tail water You must keep your irrigation system fairly well buttoned up no leaks build in redundancy. So there are Safety or let's see shut off valve. So if if something catastrophic happens, you can deal with it right away Um apply irrigation water at the agronomic weight rate, which means Don't Water more than you need in general. I feel like cannabis cultivators Are pretty good about this more so than traditional So No, I'm not super worried about that one um and maintain your irrigation as needed obviously The chemical storage essentially just store it covered and um away from the well Um Store pesticides and fertilizers separately from your petroleum products Um, don't store them within the setback don't or mix within the setback or obviously apply within the setback And use products consistent with the label Um, there's some reporting requirements There are two sort of flavors of reports technical reports Which are do once at the onset of your permit and within 90 days of your application And then another depending on what tier you are You may have annual reporting requirements So Technical reports depending on your tier and risk and I have it kind of laid out here So you can once you have an idea of where you're going to be in terms of tier and risk This is the these are the reports that you may have to write And there are technical reporting guidelines in the order It's attachment d of the cannabis journal order. So there are pretty specific guidelines on what we need to see in these reports It's do 90 days after submitted the exception is the site closure report Which needs to be submitted 90 days before you you terminate your operation Submitted to this email address and the pdf Annual reports Types of things that you may need to report annually. This only applies to tier one and tier two growers not the waiver I didn't want to do that winterization confirmed tier nitrogen application surface water runoff Stabilization And there's guidance in the order as well as as to what exactly we're looking for in this annual reporting And you can always email us at the regional board. We can provide guidance And they're due march 1st of each year Okay, so Robert's going to talk about water rights and then at the end He's going to tell you how to enroll which is really the probably what you want to know most So take it over Excellent. Thank you. Leah. So so what button was it this one, huh? I've been eyeballing you guys, but from that I can't see it this one here, right? All right, cool All right. Hey, so, um, my name is robbers of not this I work for the uh, division of water rights I lead the cannabis registration team So um, leah talked about uh, the water quality requirements of our cannabis policy Before I dive in I I want to get a quick show of hands. How many of us here have actually read the cannabis policy? All right, that's cool. I get it. I get it. Um, another quick show of hands. How many of us here divert surface water To irrigate your grow? Well, I'm not all right my time here. Nice meeting you. Good All right, so let's talk about the overview of How you're going to get through The state water board process Okay, so we have an overall overarching policy for water quality control It's a big document. It's like this thick weighs a hundred pounds lots of words lots of numbers There's two parts to it One is water quality. The second one is water rights Two parts of this one document We're a small part a checkbox if you will On your way to getting your annual license from the california department of food and agriculture I guess I can explain it here too The state board there's division of water rights. There's a regional board. This is this is really all it is There's a headquarters office in sacramento where the state water board There's nine little regional offices all spread throughout the state. They deal with water quality Issues throughout the state It's easier to deal with different water quality issues throughout the state and regional offices because watersheds and hydrology And topography is so different throughout california. It wouldn't be right to deal with it all in sacramento and water rights Yeah, we don't care. We handle it all on sacramento Okay, so I apologize ahead of time some of my slides are a bit texty But I'll get through them as best I can There's two requirements to flow requirements As they relate to water rights in the cannabis policy One of them is called the narrative in stream flow requirement. The other one's numeric in stream flow. What does that mean? The narrative in stream flow requirement means we want you to bypass 50 percent of the flow In your surface stream when you're diverting You're looking at a stream flow We want half of that going by After your diversion We don't want you sucking up the whole stream The numeric in stream flow that's a little bit different Our team of scientists and engineers is developing an online tool So that every cannabis cultivator that's diverting surface water not many of us in this room But you will get online and you will click Where your point of diversion is and a gis map It's it's pretty interactive. It's it's cool. It's not up yet, but we're working on it Based on your point of diversion We're going to assign a gauge to you a gauge is a little instrument in the water that tells you how much water is flowing past it If there's enough water in the stream For you to divert for your cannabis grow Turn your pumps on If there's not Don't All right, so I think this is where we all live here ground water It's a challenging issue for us at the division of water rights because the state water board does not have permitting Or reporting authority over ground water So that means we don't give you ground water permits to instar your well You go to the county you get your permit the driller comes out 200 feet later you have water you're good you start pumping now Here's the thing Oftentimes what we think is true percolating ground water is actually hydrologically connected to surface water All right, okay Well, what are we going to do about it? If we find over time not a year Probably not two years Maybe five years. I don't know if we find that at some point Aquatic base flows that means the minimum amount of water In the streams To support fish and wildlife is being adversely impacted By groundwater wells There's a caveat in the policy that may allow us to do some about it What that means is that we may come through at some point in the future and say hey ground water well users You know what we're going to need you to turn your pumps off in the summer Pump in the winter just like the surface water diverters store it in tanks Leave as much water in the stream in the summer as you can because we're drying down The surface water Hasn't happened yet This is just something that may happen in the future. Maybe it won't but there's three targets three triggers that would Make us evaluate groundwater users the first one would be If there is a large cluster Of groundwater wells in an area and the aquatic base flow in that area is Low Consistently low. We would look at those the second trigger would be if There are a large number of riparian users So they're they're they're diverting surface water Tired of it a large cluster of those riparian users switch to groundwater wells We may look at that The third trigger would be if there's an area that the aquatic base flow is consistently low and we don't even know why That could be another the third trigger that would Have us look at and evaluate groundwater groundwater well users All right, here's another fun one and there may be some of us here too fully contained springs It's kind of hard to explain From a technical standpoint what we mean by that But this is what here's my take on it It's water the daylights on your property And never runs off When I say never I mean under natural circumstances Never ever runs off your property not because you dug a big pond around it Not because you built a diversion box and you have a pump on top of it That's not what I mean by never flowing off your property I mean like there's nothing around this spring and it never ever flows off That's fine. You can use that fully contained spring to irrigate your grow We just want You to show us that it's really fully contained meaning It's not hydrologically connected to the broader watershed. How do you do it? You're a geologist We are going to I mean it really like a licensed geologist or licensed hydrogeologists We're going to have some guidance on our website and the next Two to three weeks it could be two to three government weeks. So I don't know maybe but you know you get it Anyway We just want to have some technical Documentation that the spring is not hydrologically connected to the rest of the watershed All right This is where we are right now the first year. I used to call it first year free What that means is that for this first year You're able to divert in the summer From here on out, you're not going to be able to you're going to need to turn your pumps off on april first You can turn them back on on november first, but for this first year If you get a water right We're going if if you get a water right before you start diverting You can divert water for this first summer while you're building your storage We realize it takes time to build a reservoir To get tanks we get it this first summer get it done, but you can divert while you're building that now This is that gauge assignment that I spoke about a moment ago. You're going to be able to get online And see what gauge is assigned to your area And from that gauge is going to be like a red light or a green light Green light turn your pumps on you can divert that day red light Don't turn your pumps on there's not enough water in the stream That's what this is And we'll message all of this As these as these tools come online and as information becomes available We're going to message this to the cultivation community. Hey water boards gauge assignment tool is online or the Fully contained spring guidance is now available online. So we won't be operating in a vacuum. Everybody's good. Well, we hope everybody's going to know Through our messaging and I'll get into that a little bit later too All right, so this is the program that I run the small irrigation use registration program So this is where I live I've got a team of nine scientists engineers and analysts that feverishly work every day processing cannabis cultivation applications All right So, I mean like this is it right here Do I need a water right? Like what am I even doing? What do I do? I need one? Okay. Here's the answer If you divert surface water Or you divert water from a subterranean stream Yes, you need a water right But if you have a fully contained spring if you have percolating groundwater If you're part of the ground water recordation program nobody is in santa cruz county because it's only in southern california You don't need a water right If you live in an adjudicated watershed You do not need a water right. Does anybody know what an adjudicated water shed is? All right, I'll tell you. I don't know if there's any in santa cruz county But what it means is all the neighbors get together They sue each other and then a judge determines who gets how much of water and when If you live in one of those watersheds, you don't need a water right Water purveyor So if you get water from city of santa cruz or county of santa cruz water district I just made that up. I don't know if those districts really exist But if you have a municipal water purveyor, you don't need a water right Or if you have a rainwater catchment system No water right for that when I say rainwater catchment I don't mean you go out in the back and grade two acres and lay down tarp or visqueen plastic Don't do that. That's not what I mean. What we mean by rainwater catchment rooftop rooftop rainwater catchment If you have a low spot in your on your property and it doesn't channelize Water doesn't channelize before it goes in that pond. It's all Surface flow that goes in there. That's a rainwater catchment pond. You can have that and you don't need a water right all right So there's two kinds of water rights that we issue From my team One is an irrigation. I call it a certificate because that's what you get at the end is a certificate We have an irrigation certificate That's what you need for cultivation of commercial cannabis We also have a domestic certificate So if you have a house On your property that you grow on But you also use that surface water diversion for your home You got to come in and get a domestic certificate as well If you have six plants or less We only want to know about it. Those are yours. But if you have seven plants or more We think you're a commercial cultivator at that point Next slide, please All right When do you need to do this? I tell people do it now We worked on an online application system is going to take you about an hour and a half to get through it There's no reason to wait get the water right now It'll take you an hour like I said an hour and a half to get through it From the time you pay you have a month to pay After you pay it'll get take us about two weeks to get you your actual certificate This summer if you plan to divert surface water this summer to irrigate your grow Totally get your water right now. You have to all right So this is the slide that my team and I Exist by Is that these are the rules here? You got to comply with the general conditions and we have a Application set up similar to fish and wildlife where it's just a general set of 25 conditions If you comply with these 25 conditions, you're good There's no site specific work that we need to do just follow the 25 conditions Get the the s i u r small irrigation new certificate in our us and our acronyms, right Small irrigation new certificate you get that through our online portal. You also get The water quality permit through our online portal. That's what lia does She and her team go out and inspect your site But before you do that you got to come into this portal And get your water quality permit they call it a notice of applicability That's a lot of like a lot of Syllables for me to say I just say water quality permit because that's how I think of it Just like a water right you get a water quality permit same thing They'll go out and inspect your site Once you get that you get it through the same portal though The max amount of water you can have per year 6.6 acre feet and this is for surface water diverters only I know there's a lot of groundwater folks in here But 6.6 acre feet of water per year and it's weird, right like why not 6.7 or why not 6.5? I didn't make that number up the maximum diversion rate is 10 gallons per minute and that's In pursuant or that's pursuant to our cannabis cultivation policy That's the max diversion you can have from your pump 10 gallons per minute Well, if you multiply that by the number of days in the diversion season It's 6.6 acre feet per year multiplication I can do that Now you can there's you can turn your pumps on November 1st Keep them on through march 31st. So at 11 59 p.m. On march 31st turn your pump off The forbearance period which means the dry season the summer April 1st through october 31st got to keep your pumps off So you're going to come through the portal We ask you questions One of those questions is where's your point of diversion? There's a gis map you click it Where your point of diversion is? There's a few things that will bump you out automatically for One is a full fully appropriated stream. What's that? It's a stream that the state water board has found. There's no water left to allocate There's no water left to give automatic rejection Wild and scenic rivers Automatic rejection we can't give we can't allocate water from a wild and scenic river And there's also these there's two right now This is called an in-stream flow study area fish and wildlife Studies streams throughout the state and they also issue I don't want to say a warning. It's it's more like a declaration where this stream is impacted If you take any more water out of it is going to adversely impact fish and wildlife. There's two of them right now Correct me if I'm wrong. You may not know butte creek and big sir Bam, I think that's what they are, but I don't know. We'll find out later. Okay. I think that's what they are right now There's a few more coming online in future years. Also If your point of diversion Or your grow area is within 600 feet of a tribal boundary We're gonna let you know about it It doesn't mean you can't get your water right and it doesn't mean you can't get your water quality permit But it means before you grow You need to get permission written permission We need to see the written permission like signed by the tribal council That they're okay with you growing within 600 feet Of their tribal land. All right, so this is the portal. I've been talking so much about we spent Oh nine months working on this We're really we're really proud of it You can get to it from our website There it is right there And I mean you can just get on to google and say water boards cannabis and it'll it'll bump you right there That's where it'll take you Okay, this is the overall process for applying and this goes for both Water quality and water rights. It's one portal. You just go in and you answer questions And in the end you get two things a water quality permit and maybe a water right if you need one. Anyway The applicant First box there you are that's you You enter you you register so you give us a username and password You answer questions You hit submit Then we get it we review it See if there's any deficiencies any further questions that we have After we say out you're fine. We send you an invoice You pay us money And then after we get after your check clears after we make sure the money's good We send you your water quality permit And a water right if you if you needed one And then after that we're like family. We see each other once a year At your compliance inspection I can't believe I said that all out All right, so This is the the flow once you get in to the portal When you get into the portal after you establish your username your account The first set of questions are geared towards screening you through Think we call it the general order. That's the water quality permit We ask you what some water quality questions to see if you even need the water quality Permit right now some folks up north don't need one because they already have coverage But for us and Santa Cruz forget about them You need a you need a water quality permit So when you answer this these screening questions is going to pass you through because you're going to need the Water quality permit the next section is going to be water rights We're going to ask you water rights screenings screening questions. Where is your point of diversion? What's the name of the stream? Do you have a spring on your property? The nature of your water source. That's what we want to know in section b We have a gis tool that'll guide you through it all Section c and d are applicant and property information Addresses names numbers who's doing what where that's section c Section d That's for the division of water quality. They want to know site specific stuff like what's the area of your grow What's the slope of the property? Things like that Section e see how it's really long like longer than the rest Those are division of water rights questions or control freaks. We like to know everything. We love data So we ask a bunch of questions, but it's okay because we guide you through them It's it's they're not questions that you wouldn't already know and before you even get into this Portal we have a checklist of 12 things that you need before you come in really follow the checklist have the stuff first But if you don't you can just log out get the stuff and then log back in whatever you have an account At the end we talked about it. You pay We give you stuff the water right and the notice of applicability Which is the water quality permit Okay, this is what it looks like. There's the water, right You're going to get a couple things from us. You get the actual water rights certificate and the gis map that you created You guys are going to create one of those And i'll give you an a plus every one of you All right, wait, let's go back Okay, that is what the notice of applicability letter looks like The division of water quality doesn't let you build a map like we do But they'll still give you a piece of paper if you give them money Okay, how many of us are on social media? Everybody like instagram or facebook? Please just somebody raise your hand All right. Yeah, all right Follow us our handle is at water boards cultivation. We post stuff on there cool pictures We do polls. We like to know What people are having difficulty with from the application standpoint Why are our fees so high things like that and we'll answer She won't like the answer both will give you an answer Okay, there's a contact information There's lia You know her State board Robert, that's me and brian moore is my buddy up front. He's from the division of water quality and sacramento I believe that's all we've got Yeah, all right Thank you Thank you for that fantastic explanation of the state water requirements And I think it's just clear that with some exceptions a lot of our process and the planning and um cannabis licensing side We'll help you very much when you go to the state for the things that fish and wildlife are going to need the regional board The state board So I hope you have confidence in that that a lot of the material you prepare for us will be very useful and immediately Applicable to the state and now melody is going to take over Hey, well, welcome to the wonderful world of cannabis legalization You know as we said when we first started this process about five years ago One day you're going to be standing in this chambers and you're going to be complaining about the water boards and the Planning commission and this and that and it's here Okay, so right now we want to take some time and ask The opportunity for you to ask some questions again Not site specific questions because nobody's going to be able to help you with that But if you have some general questions about processes procedures who to talk to that sort of thing We're going to um do that and then of course are you guys going to return to your tables outside afterwards? And then you can ask some site specific questions outside. So anybody have general questions and i'm going to call on you I have a question for Roberto and also for the county Regarding fully appropriated streams the Santa Rosa River is fully appropriated in the summer Uh This forbearance you're you're still not going to allow people to divert during the summer, right? It's televised. Yeah Yeah, she didn't tell me till after right that's cool. So you you what river san lorenzo river San Lorenzo river is fully appropriated the summer from june 1st through October 31st. Okay, and your question was can you divert? I just want to clarify. You said that there will be a forbearance period waiver this first year, right? Okay. Yeah, that's that's a good question Okay, so the fully appropriated stream declarations we have may Or may not coincide With the cannabis forbearance period oftentimes they do There's no water in the summer and a lot of streams And it just so happens that for the cannabis policy We don't want you using water in the summer now right off the top of my head. I don't know what the dates For the fully appropriated declaration is for san lorenzo It'll be june 1st through june 1 31st. Okay. Okay, so it almost coincides with the cannabis policy um It sounds like That for san lorenzo you would not be able to divert at all because the cannabis policy says Turn your pumps off april 1st through october 31st, right? This first year you're having a waiver of that though, but I just want to oh, well, well, okay So we're having a waiver of that for requiring a water right But nobody can divert for any purpose for a fully appropriation You can be going grapes corn berries doesn't matter if it's fully appropriated during some season You can't divert during that season for anything And then uh, so-called creek is adjudicated You said you don't need a license, but that means you have to have all of the adjudication Do what the judge says right? Okay. Good. And then uh, uh, the county in their recent, uh past Uh code has a forbearance period as well and that is not It's my understanding that that would not be waived on the first year Right so even though the state is waving their first year the counties does not have language waving their forbearance period The county has one it would be more Okay, right, right. I just I just wanted to jump in real quick before we say we are broadly waving the first year forbearance You got to get your water right in order to do that So you can't just start diverting and say oh well it's the first year It's it's cool. It's not you have to get your water right And then you can start diverting this one summer now But that's it now for the county. I don't know Yeah, the intention of that was to match the state and we will match the intent of that regulation Which is to match state water board intent and we defer to the state essentially Okay, and we'll and we will impose those regulations according to that Okay, there's there's some issues with that because we we are in a we have water restrictions right now So anyway, we'll we'll talk to the board about that. I guess. Thank you Anybody else questions general questions Great. Hi, Jeff While we're talking about water just want to make sure if if we're on a well though We still need to apply for the water quality Certificate is that correct? Right now that that's a good question. Yes, so you go into the All right, I was at it right there All right, so so um, everybody needs to get The water quality permit doesn't matter if you're diverting surface water or groundwater Everybody needs to come into the portal to get at least the water quality permit Not everybody's going to need a water, right? So it sounds like in your case, you're on a well We're going to ask you what's your source of water. You're going to check the box groundwater well We're going to say cool. You don't need a water, right continue on to get your water quality permit This time because that's the next question that protection from what? I want to know do protection from what what what are we talking about? I don't know exactly what you're talking about. So, um, I know we ask you I know because I coded it. So I'm trying to think like, well, did I ask something weird? I don't know we ask what is your source of water You click what your source of water is groundwater you have a well, okay So I was going to pass through then we want you to answer questions regarding your water quality permit Oh, I know what you're so you're you're asking well, am I already covered? Do I already have coverage under the general order? Do you live in santa cruz county? Yes, you do not Answer no I agree answer no nobody in santa cruz county has current Coverage under the general order. It's only for folks in like humboldt mendicino county Shots again. No, not Shasta county, but up north trinity county covered at this time. Yes Yeah, yeah, everybody in santa cruz county is applying for general order coverage Which is the same thing as a water quality permit same thing as notice of applicability Say it again general order coverage Same as notice of applicability Same as water quality permit. It's all the same thing. Everybody in santa cruz county needs to do it You answer that you do not have coverage Under a general order. So you actually answer no Because nobody in santa cruz county does have current coverage under a general All right, here we go jump it in. Thanks for saving me, dude all right, that's Section a question one. It says do any of these things apply to you? And one of them is You know, I'm covered under the general order. I'm covered under regional order I want a site specific wdr, which nobody wants So you want to select no because anyone in santa cruz county will not be covered in any of those conditions So that's question a section Section a question one Answer no This question's I'm bumping up against something right now for on the state app. It's actually the last thing besides the The local license and that's sequa and they they specifically say To Attach the evidence of sequa or if no evidence of sequa approval exists The local jurisdiction and the local jurisdiction did not prepare a sequa document applicants are responsible for preparing the required Environmental compliance document and compliance with sequa. So we're there. Where does stuck again? I'm familiar with that and and that is a subject that I've been talking to folks at cdfa About they're also aware. There are a couple of different things That the state is doing to make sure that folks Who are in operation? For our purposes and and I guess to some extent there's Ken say our local jurisdiction does not have their act quite together And so you may be able to resubmit. I can't remember. Did you get a local letter? Or no, I got a local letter So you think I could just resubmit that because they they just acted like there's they're all ask her county again They have it. I'm like, no, they don't no We don't because sequa's not done until you have your use permit and go through the the planning process the You know process that we go through together So there's no sequa determination yet For any individual projects what we The conversation that I'm having with the state is number one They're considering a couple different options. Maybe just doing a blanket extension of temporary licenses That's one possibility. They haven't landed They could also have you resubmit your temporary license application And there's some stuff in between what I'm Probably well, so so I can I can Change the existing letter that we've been giving to folks to include a piece on sequa and say Each individual applicant will be required to comply with sequa at this point, you know This person is here just like the the temporary letter and I I mean if you don't understand or know what we're talking about Let me know but these are folks that for cultivators who went through our pre-license inspection process Who um have a tax account downstairs are paying or reporting taxes and generally comply with the regulations You're in good standing and we've been providing letters that you submit to the state Those are running out like I said before and people the the way the state set it up is if you wanted an extension You had to make your annual application and that's where the sequel question comes in I think the most important thing to understand is that the state totally understands That this is happening and that there are lots and lots of folks in many jurisdictions in the same In the same boat. Um, there are plenty of jurisdictions that are Behind us or right where we are and and don't have a way of saying this person has complied with sequa So they will my I can't speak for them But my understanding in the conversations that we're having is that they will accept either a resubmitted Letter or maybe a letter that has a new paragraph That says again, you know per the exemption that the state legislature gave me We have deferred sequa for each individual applicant This these folks won't get a license until they go through sequa Rest assured they will comply does it make sense to have a consultant start working on that Work on the the sequa review on the project. Don't even don't waste there's nothing to review It's about your project. So I mean you We do sequa so you can certainly if You can talk about your project with consultants you can have people do different components but You're getting a little ahead of yourself if we haven't even sat down and talked about the the scope of work Now if you went through the pli, we know a lot about your site and and some site conditions But we have to apply these regulations to you. So You are not you will we do the sequel analysis You you provide information that helps us with that. So you'll have a biotic report The beam op all of those are mitigations that came out of the eir So you can certainly talk about which of those will apply to you and who you need to contact But I don't you know, I don't want you to get too far ahead of that process until we've sat down and helped you Figure out what the permitting and licensing process means for you. So You there's some stuff that you can do Now at least having the conversations. I just don't want folks to be committing huge amounts of resources Until we've gone back over With the rules now practically in hand And said, okay, these are the things that maybe you didn't think about or maybe you went in this direction And we kind of want you to move over here Does that make sense? Yeah, no totally. I mean it makes sense to me. I know where we're at I just wanted for some reason cdfa doesn't seem to get it right now The state I don't want to speak ill of my state brothers and sisters. They they're As befuddled as any agency I mean, they just are you know, they they The the voters acted and they went oh my god, we better hurry up and get this together. They're not together They have three agencies that that don't even talk to each other. They're getting there They really are and and when I have conversations with folks, um, you know, they're they're very earnest Like they're not, you know Suffer like they really are trying to get it together They're just having to ramp up and do stuff They've never done just like us and figure out how it all works in a way that's fair That that that doesn't ruin the trust that we have with our non cannabis, uh, you know constituents So They know the problem. They will come up with a fix and and we can help and and we talk to them all the time. So We'll figure it out anybody else um I just noticed uh during the um power point on distribution Um, I didn't notice but it went by fairly quickly the su and tp May not have been listed for distribution So, um, I'm not sure what was up there. Um, I'm not going to go back and try to find it right now But su and tp as long as you are subordinate I mean if you're existing in subordinate and incidental to the license cultivation on the property One could distribute one's own product, but su and tp were never intended for Distributing broadly but self distribution self distribution. Yeah Okay, and then also as we're coming up on this next wave of state licenses and such, um, our intention is to uh pursue the micro business And just wanted to see if uh, where the county's at Well, we have we have a process for vertical integration We don't disallow it, but you need to go through the licensing and permitting process to be evaluated for such a request But right now everybody should remember that you need to freeze not move. It's kind of that game right now Don't expand don't set up new operations. I know you're eager to get going and fully Operate but you got to stay in your confined space where you are And then when you get your light when you get through the permitting process You're going to have your sequel review by the government agency You'll be evaluated for this concept of vertical integration or if you co-locate with others We're going to capture all that all that at one time During a review. That's our goal with you, but you know, I think you're a little ahead there Okay, cool So right now it's all a car and eventually we can combine them Well, when you come in for I should say when you come in for your license Um, I'm not sure how they'll break up the fees for the cannabis licensing office But at least for land use permitting when you come in for a permit You're going to claim everything you want to do if you want to distribute your own have a CO2 manufacturer and you want to grow you would describe that all at once in a lump Projects, you know description and you would get approval for that So, you know, you'll get your different licenses Broken up, but the land use permitting evaluation will be at one time And you take it to the state and they would give you your different state licenses. Does that make sense? I I think so and right now if we have the all a car Authorization letters we could actually apply at the state for the micro business with each one of those Yeah, if you have the three of the four that they require Yeah, and I think though the micro business goes through Candidates control and then takes even though you're cultivating you're no longer in cdfa, so correct But that's all state questions. You should talk to the state about so, okay, cool Hi My question has to do with fish and wildlife It's my understanding and my understanding quickly that Everybody needs to register with you rather or not. There's a creek or a listed species or any sort of Yes, yes, okay Yes, if you're cultivating in the state, you need to notify us you need to apply with us and we evaluate where to go from there Okay, thanks And then let's see next question I have is I guess for everybody is that Hi everybody is so let's say you start off with a small business You get all your permitting you register with everybody you get all your certifications and then you know years down the line You get a new permit to Expand your business I'm assuming you have to come back and re-register when with any sort of amendment or change to your use permit that you have with the county Is that correct? You're on tv Yeah, so so A couple things on that, you know, if you know What you envision your your your business to be and to look like And we always say this I always say this in planning Ask for what you want, right trying to piecemeal and and and some of this is a function of your budget and that you know Economics of what you're trying to do, but to the extent that you can Put it down and and ask for the whole thing because if you have to come back Then you're really redoing a lot of stuff and and you're amending that use permit that you got you have to The environmental review changes And and it really is not cost effective or efficient. So When you're when you're putting together your scope of work your your project description Put it all out there. Don't say, you know, I really want this but yeah, they might not You know go for that. I'm just gonna this little teeny tiny thing over here Don't look over here Tell us everything and we'll tell you if it's feasible or not from our perspective We'll tell you what it means But don't don't hide the ball because it it really isn't worth it for elder cultivation one of the annual reporting requirements is Confirming tier status, which basically means is your disturbed area still your disturbed area have you expanded If you have it may bump you into a higher tier maybe a lower tier if you've shrunk So we'll modify it from year to year and then actually the permit Ends in 2022 is that right? Yeah, so It's actually the waivers that end in 2022 if you're enrolled under the waiver it ends in Their five-year waivers. They were passed. I believe in november. So five years from November if you're in there then you're gonna be required to re-enroll at that point anyways, but it's sort of Every year a little bit be revisited And then my last question is has to do with The permitting process in terms of who goes first or can this all be done concurrently? It sounds like from the website That is like the sequa review that will be done during their use permit application portion through the county It may be required for the other portion. So i'm just looking at Timing and and how who goes first who's on second who's on third? Well, I won't give you the exact order of with the state agencies who you should approach precisely when but generally speaking You come to the cannabis licensing office step one you shouldn't Waste your time with the state agencies unless you're the interim in operation people that do need anyone in operation That's diverting water. They've made it clear come to the state And then otherwise cannabis licensing is stop one before you approach planning We don't want you approaching planning in a formal way with a submittal until You've gotten the can of clearance from us that we've vetted your project sufficiently You can approach planning And then with the state some of that will be concurrent when you when you get far enough along with us that you can You can go to this state agencies in an attempt to submit what they require It just depends on if you're an existing Operator with interim status with a temporary state license. So it just depends on that part. Perfect. Thanks Is there anybody in the back of the room that has wanted to ask a question that hasn't gotten a chance yet? I'm going to go back there first If you start as an outdoor licensee and you want to phase transition to indoor if ultimately we have a mixed light You have to go through the permitting process for grading and construction. Does that mean we have to go apply? For an indoor license before we can even go to building and planning and discuss the grading and construction permits required 100 percent sure. What um, so right now you have an operation Indoor outdoor. No. No intention is to Get licensed for an outdoor operation Okay, but ultimately long term would be to grade and be able to put greenhouses in the same location Based upon the what loretta was just saying there It's i'm kind of trying to get some clarity Do we need to come to you first then and actually apply for an indoor operation before we would go to building and planning? Yes, okay Start with us Uh Yeah, again, you're gonna have to go through the same process twice if you come and apply for an outdoor uh license You're gonna go through Potentially public hearing and and all the submittal requirements and the processing and the timing for that if you're gonna come back and say This is the project. I really want You're gonna do it all over again so To the extent that you can and I get again, you know the economic imperatives But you're gonna be duplicating your efforts with with the county for sure and to You can start it's gonna cost you I mean you can not literally start you can you can start the application process with us. This is my project But you want to apply for the whole thing and then and then actually on the ground Yeah, I mean we can condition but but you're gonna be we're gonna be evaluating the entire project So the phases can be built into that Yeah Yeah, but we're gonna look in terms of sequa in terms of the impacts We're gonna look at the ultimate build out But you don't actually have to do that if that's so you don't have to so there'll be conditions of approval saying You know must obtain building permit for this, you know, and we can even Structure it. I mean we do this for, you know shopping centers or whatever like this build out here and this build out here But the project again is the whole thing. So that's what you're actually applying for and then you can structure it However, you want within that Okay, good. Thank you. This question's for leah Regarding the disturbed area because I know a lot of people Myself included are kind of confused about how to calculate that and then also Is it like based on an estimate? I mean, what if you guys come out and you measure what you consider disturbed area and we miss something because we're not professionals at this and then You guys are like, oh, you're a hundred square feet short on your disturbed area The order defines disturbed area as your your actual canopy area plus any areas where you have soil stored So you If you're off The worst case scenario really is say You're more than acre and you thought you were less than an acre and we come out and we notice that We'll just have you we'll just change your enrollment from tier one to tier two It's really not the end of the world. Okay. What about nursery because There's really no described canopy area for nursery. So that's where I was getting really confused That's a good question brian Is it a what's the facility? Is it a permanent structure and yeah, greenhouses Greenhouses with a dirt floor or concrete Santa Cruz you can't have concrete floors in your greenhouse till legal Well, you're not supposed to not I'm definitely not for cannabis For walkways. It's yeah All right, so cultivation area is pretty much the area the plant takes up plus all the paths adjacent to those plants So You know, if you have a greenhouse that's going to be full of plants and you have all the plants Those paths adjacent to those plants Probably be about the size of that greenhouse. Yeah, so This is the tricky thing is that the cdfa is defining canopy is the area where mature plants are grown We aren't cdfa. We're the one. I know so that's I just that's why I like I've read the general order and all the exhibits And it's definitely confusing Maybe there should be like a little explanation on the website Yeah, so cultivation area is the area of the plants and the Paths around them the stirberry includes the cultivation area plus equipment storage areas material storage areas Any other areas you're using for cannabis cultivation? I had a question in the back too You can use that mike mike Hey, it's a it's actually a question for lia Concerning the inspection that will be done for the wild quality cert You'll be doing presumably be doing that one on once a project is Is built or pre-project when it's staked out when is that going to happen? You apply you pay we issue the notice of applicability. We'll follow up with a An inquiry to do a site visit within the next month usually and We'll it's kind of up to you if your site is really kind of In the beginning processes it may not be worth much of our time to come and see it We may want you to wait want to wait a little bit Until things are on in the ground and we have a sense of what's going to happen If you would rather us come out earlier and get some guidance On the front end that's fine too. So it depends we'll work with you And whatever is kind of mutual benefit beneficial. So And it's different for every state Because I'm kind of thinking about our process where we you know, we submit for use permit review Which is like conceptual plans really good site plans with all these structures Illustrated as well your cultivation area and some operational notes and your access and all that But that use permit will take quite a while to be processed During the detailed kind of grading plan stormwater management plan that we'd require locally Might not be available for quite a while And you know, I think it would help folks just kind of understand that Process a little bit better that they might be expecting a water quality certification up front because they filed an application Maybe tremor all You know for your review, but it may be A year before they get to the point where they've able to submit a detailed grading plan because we're working with them on their project And they've citing the project doing the beam op things generally, um If you're high risk or moderate risk if you're moderate risk and you're on a steep slope You'll be required to just submit a disturbed area stabilization plan may or may not involve an engineer drawings So by and large though growers we don't we don't need that kind of detail and If we if you apply and your your site's really not getting built up for six months Just tell us that and we'll we'll reach back out in six months um That's fine I'm confused about august 8th and the 30 days thereafter The ordinance passed the second reading on the 8th 30 days thereafter it becomes effective, but can any people apply for the With the planning department for use permits or anything Or do we have to wait the full 30 days until it becomes effective? So we have to sit and do nothing until the actual Whatever it is in Next month september whatever it is Okay, we just there's nothing we can do. We just have to wait You could be having conversations. You can you know be consulting with folks to to help you, you know Figure out what you need to Sort of how to orient yourself now that you're you know Able to to be familiar with the the final product here, but until it's effective It it's not it's not live Um, there's still a period people can appeal there There are you know a bunch of different things that can happen that could take it potentially off track I don't see any of those things happening. I think that we we crafted a pretty good Compromise and in most cases so but that's that's a statutory Requirement that that there's you know people have the ability to digest it and and An appeal and and take us to court if they want to Again, I don't anticipate that but but that's what the the effective date that 30 day period that's It's not it's not operational yet and we don't want to start having people come in not least Reason of which is that we're not entirely ready to have you come in and and do the actual application Walk through we're creating all those materials as we speak But we had to wait and see what the board was going to do before we could figure out what to put in our application forms So so we're still crafting that Um, it doesn't mean you can't talk to us and ask us questions and ask these folks questions and and try to get your head around everything But moving forward not yet So if our development plan were ready tomorrow, we would still have to wait to 30 days till september To formally submit. Okay. Did you say september? June don't yeah, forget the august september june. It's not that far away Right question. Okay So if we need to wait until june for that does that mean you're still doing temporary license? I'm sorry pre-license inspections To the extent that we that we can We're we're gonna run into a sort of a resource crunch, frankly And we really want to start transitioning Into this the application process. So there's not a firm cut-off date But it's going to be pushing folks out longer and longer because we're going to have to be spending time doing other things um the The local letters we will continue to do for folks who are in operation not expanding not Conceiving of what they want to do but who are in operation And so but but that's it's going to start to narrow and it's just again. It's just a resource piece for us other questions Hi, yeah, I had a question regarding the The phase of the project layout that you all were referring to earlier and the the potential amendment to a license down the road So in the and I'll do my best not to be site specific here in a little more general but uh in the case where you have A structure that needs to be refurbished in order to meet county code And potentially you would like to Have a permitted nursery down the road Those things need to be put into the site plan in order to be Processed into The licensing agreement that we're coming into and then But because those won't be happening in the coming Year or so That's not going to hold up the actual personal license For a cultivator. Is it if you if you can if you get through And complete the the use permit process the discretionary piece with planning in In concert with us And we can get past sequa we can make a sequa finding and and and you can get a decision on your use permit But you still have to use permits or have conditions, right conditions of approval So one of the conditions might be uh that you need to Recognize or permit structures. I know this has not applied to anybody in this room But there are unpermitted structures all over the place out there that we have seen And so in in many cases you're going to have to decide whether you Um, whether you demolish it because it can't be permitted or it's too expensive or whatever or that it needs to be recognized Or you need to build a house if you're in that kind of zone district So what what I envision is that you come do all the stuff that we talked about you meet with us You do the pre application you submit your um, you submit all your material and and planning Goes to whatever level process and you get a use approval Then we could give you something like a provisional license that would allow you to Keep operating or to you know in some cases start operating With um with our license, but but it's time limited So if um, you know, it's going to take you a year to legalize a structure or build a house Um, then then we'll you know, we'll we'll evaluate your progress It doesn't sort of last forever But yeah, it takes a long time to build a house or to get a regular old building permit It's not always a quick and easy thing So but we want to see that as part of your project So show those structures and then literally on your plan, you know, this one's going away This one needs to be legalized. That's part of your project description And so but those those kinds of things Um, we don't intend to hold people up But we have to get through CEQA So we have to at least get through the use approval and have the decision maker whether it's a zea Or it's an administrative approval that has to be completed before you can move forward. Um, yeah Okay, and one more. Sorry The um, are you all are going to be requiring a licensed engineer or architect to Be creating the site plans that we'll be submitting with the beam up Uh, it's submitting with the beam up or the license I know terminology. We'll get a glossary and just put that out there. Um Yes, these are commercial projects and and commercial projects require Um that plans be drawn up by either an engineer or an architect um, and I mean you can have other people prepare them and somebody stamps them. I mean there are ways, you know to to To move forward that aren't always as cost prohibitive, but there's their commercial and that that's part of the building code So and grading plans we will require those to be prepared by licensed engineer Yeah, and we'll have again we'll have the list some of these some of this information is already on the planning department website If you haven't gone to their website There's just a ton of information about the processing levels about their application Flow and all that Their environmental planning section. Um, there are consultant lists. There are, you know What is a grading plan look like? There's a lot of information So so definitely avail yourself of what they have and and we'll link up and make that consistent with our process too I saw you So i'm gonna say who else has questions. Can you raise your hands now just so we can see how many more? So one two three four and then we're gonna call it after that so that you can meet with the people separately. Okay Hi, thanks I just wonder if you could just give me an idea Of what a level five review looks like it's a public thing So is that we go into a room and there's a panel of people and any neighbors can show up and who has a And who can come and speak about your Is it somebody that's a mile away from you? Is it your direct neighbors? I'm just curious about that Excellent questions and and again some of that Um, it is is available already on the on the planning department website, but um, a level five Is the zoning administrator? um, who is uh An employee of the planning department and it's it's one person Um, the noticing that happens and there's some preliminary steps that i'm that i'm kind of glossing over but Once your project is is complete everything You have all of the material and you're ready to move forward The planner will write up a staff report that talks about all the different components And how you are in compliance with all these different regulations And and then we schedule a hearing in this very room And and the the zoning administrator will sit up there The notice that goes out goes to all neighbors within 300 feet Of your property the perimeter so from the property line out You can go gis you can see who that touches if you don't touch enough people if you're super remote I think yet it's 10 10 people minimum have to be so they widen that that buffer to make sure we get at least 10 people notified And and those folks may elect to show up and talk they may submit written comments just like The planning commission and board hearings that we've had We're very much about the public process You know it raises another question about what Um, you know if you know your neighbors and there are different schools of thought I am of the opinion that that it's better to let people know what you're doing early on Um Not everybody shares that but I just think Why be surprised, you know if you don't know your neighbors Introduce them or introduce yourself to them and and let them know what's coming If you've been there for a long time and this is going to apply to a lot of folks If you've been operating on site for for more than five years and we don't have any records of complaints More than likely everybody's pretty cool with what you've been doing Does it mean that somebody won't take the opportunity and say us is terrible, but but they have to have real Impacts that they can articulate they have to talk about real stuff. It can't just be She never smiles at me like it, you know, so so but that's the process and and the the Zoning administrator just like any other decision maker that will take in all the information They'll look at the staff report. They'll look at our analysis They'll look at the conditions of approval that we applied and see if those are adequate to take care of any potential Impacts like odor for instance, which will be a very That we're going to talk about that a lot. I suspect in some cases But again, if you've been on site and you're operating Hopefully there aren't too many surprises with folks that get notification But but you never know what happens at a public hearing. So no guarantees there Hi, I just had a question as to the application for the entitlement Are we Thinking that there may be a specific level five application for this particular use or will it be the the regular Application that is available at this time and then they'll just be kind of like add-ons the application will be the same basically for for all projects Sometimes some things change With respect to public hearing but but not really it it's um, I'm trying to think of the level fives that I've processed over time Yeah, the application really will be the same. It's it's the it's the beam op And it's you know showing compliance with with all the other regulations that that are in our ordinance. So Um, it's not going to vary too much between, you know, three four and five what will vary as You know the the degree of complexity of your project and And and the scope of your project So that's what's going to define what the application materials look like and what we so the pre app process you come to our office and and we look at your project description And we check off the things on on the the application or the list of required information that you'll have to submit We'll tell you based on your project If you're in a warehouse on research park, you don't need a biotic survey, right? You're in a you're in a You know manufacturing zone and stuff. So there's probably not any wild critters cruising around So so we will tailor it to your project, but it doesn't necessarily correlate to what level the levels are determined by By the use chart, which is in the the zoning regs And so that that's a function of the the zone district that you're in and the scope of your project Sure I'm just asking because some municipalities they created like a specific c up for cannabis use. So I was just wondering if that was gonna anticipated Yes and no, I mean There are so there it does live that cannabis Activities live in in their own part of the the use chart And there's a separate section in the in the zoning code that speaks to that but the process Really is not different. It's just the things that that are analyzed are different. So Yes, it has its own sort of you know in this district Cannabis manufacturing is or isn't allowed has a level four level five So it's different than other types of manufacturing or retail or whatever But But the process still looks very much the same. It's it's just you know, what What impacts we're evaluating are a tiny bit different, but it should be and as we get better at this and do more of these Well, it'll be much, you know, much more streamlined We have to get through a few and you know, all sort of tag team will have like a group sitting there in the first few Pre-applications like oh, oh look, there's one and then, you know, like the planner and the in the environmental Planner from downstairs and and these folks will all sort of you know, put their heads together and and And figure out what needs to be submitted But it it will be a lot more streamlined than it's probably sounding But it'll be much like other types of commercial projects in in many respects Um, hi, nicole lagner. I'm an attorney. I was told I could ask a non cultivation question. Is that correct? Okay, um, I just wanted to know if the licensing office had gotten clarification on how the Distribution tax is being imposed because several jurisdictions are saying oh, it doesn't apply to distribution or it applies to the markup Rather than to gross receipts and some jurisdictions are even defining this in their ordinance So I just wasn't sure if the licensing office had an answer for that um, that's it's actually the the code that the tax um Tax collector uh auditor downstairs. They sort of implement that the way it's written right now um, it doesn't apply that the tax does not apply to a margin the tax As it's written it is retail sales, but it also says that you don't have to tax yourself. So if you are cultivator distributor retailer You you pay on on that the final sale because you're not charging yourself presumably um, so We'll probably be making some Some adjustments to that if that seems problematic, but right now it it doesn't account for that that margin piece It's just not the way that the code is written currently. Um, but we'll look at changing that Hi, I just had a quick clarification question the gentleman up front was talking about greenhouses and how The county does not allow or we thought that the county does not allow impervious surface for greenhouses I have a commercial ag So if i'm putting up a greenhouse you If I decide that I wanted to do impervious surface It's acceptable It is strongly discouraged. Okay, that's what I was looking for strongly So we're going to try to get you to do everything you can to avoid doing that putting down cement or asphalt Um, that's just the policy that also has been adopted in the best management operational practices document and planning department Will also be enforcing. Okay for contamination purposes. It would be nice to put down impervious surface However, so those kind of justifications and in very isolated locations, you know could be discussed So we're we're I think reasonable policy, right? But um as a general rule just throwing down cement across um the soil is we don't want to do that to the native soil Okay, and permanently alter it but However, if we wanted to do a slight layer of asphalt to avoid that contamination That you know weeds coming up that kind of thing. We don't want anything germinating into our plants Is there a cost per square foot for the impervious surface? We'd be thinking about putting down a cost in what sense, uh Some cities apply Square footage per Yeah, it's an impervious surface cost that per square foot. It depends on the city I also run permits. So I know that this Can run between, you know 50 cents per square 75 cents is the last the last time I looked But it really it's it's a function of a lot of different things if you're talking about a brand new structure where nothing exists right now And you are on ca land No, uh that soil is the resource and if you are covering it up You're killing all the good stuff in that soil potentially. So no we we protect ca Soil so would you be open to landscape tarping and three inches of Crushed rock or some kind of you're getting into you're getting a little granular for for you know, I mean I'm just wondering. Yeah, I don't I I would have to see it and I mean and no landscape crush I don't know with I don't have a good answer for you. I cannot answer your question right now. I can't um It would still be pervious. It depends on what it does to the soil I would just say I mean we we've dealt with this um and and And the ag policy folks have dealt with this The bottom line is that we want to protect the soil if you can put something that can be taken up at some point So landscape tarp would be acceptable I would love to see your entire project construction construction grade not home depot grade I Super site specific and I don't I can't evaluate projects without More information. So it's it's I can't tell you I can't give you a firm answer without knowing more about your project Oh Okay, all right. Okay Okay, okay, we're gonna wrap it up then. Thank you very much everyone for coming I want to remind you that may 8th will be the second reading For the cannabis licensing ordinances for the non retail ordinances And then if everything goes well on may 8th, june 8th will be when the licensing program goes into effect Reminder that june 8th is also the deadline for anyone who is anonymous to become non anonymous So you must become non anonymous by june 8th if you are anonymous and watch the website for further workshops Around the licensing process. Thanks very much