Planning Commission Backs Briceland Cannabis Nursery With Zoning Change
Reflecting its value to the cannabis industry, a Southern Humboldt cannabis nursery has gotten a permit that includes a zoning change and reduction of a streamside buffer.
Approved at the Feb. 19 Humboldt County Planning Commission meeting, the permit is for an existing nursery, which Senior Planner Steven Santos described as “a little bit unusual.”
The 10,000 square-foot Briceland area operation began as a bamboo nursery in 2005 and converted to cannabis in 2012. It operated in compliance under an interim permit through late 2025, when the interim permitting program ended.
Explaining why the zoning change from a commercial to an agricultural category is “within the public interest,” Santos said the bamboo nursery had been allowed and discontinuing cannabis operation would undercut the industry.
“It makes sense to allow a cannabis nursery that’s already operating to continue operating and there is a need for cannabis nurseries to support the local industry,” he continued. “There are other permitted cannabis operations in the vicinity, and there would be no impacts on roads or adjoining parcels.”
The operation is within setbacks of neighbors and a school bus stop but the neighbors and the school district have agreed to waivers of the county cannabis ordinance’s setback standards.
Located near the intersection of Old Briceland Road and Briceland-Thorne Road, the nursery’s driveway, parking area and the footprint of an onsite residence are within a 100-foot Streamside Management Area (SMA).
Santos said the SMA reduction is supported by a biological assessment and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and it’s “consistent with the existing site conditions.”
But the CDFW also requested a condition that’s part of the permit – to install a fence marking the revised SMA.
“Part of having a physical barrier is to just make sure that as the site’s being used day to day and customers are visiting and things like that, to make sure that development and impacts and uses and operations aren’t occurring within the management area,” Santos said.
But applicant Mikal Jakubal, doing business as Plant Humboldt LLC, said the fence requirement poses a “massive problem” and “makes no sense.”
He added the new fence would “dramatically restrict access” and hamper turnarounds of vehicles larger than cars.
The fence “doesn’t do anything” to improve streamside management, he continued, which he said he could demonstrate though a site visit.
Reluctant to change a CDFW-requested requirement, Commissioner Iver Skavdal suggested an onsite negotiation process.
“If we can make it more clear that if the applicant, biologist and CDFW agree on the location of the fencing, that would be okay, at least as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “So if the applicant’s proposal is to go out and walk around the site with CDFW or their biologist and stake out the fence line and agree on that, that would be okay with me.”
A motion to approve the permit included allowance for the fence to be “reconfigured to the satisfaction of the biologist and CDFW.”
The fence installation was required within 90 days of the permit’s approval but Planning Director John Ford noted that “often we do give people a little bit more time to come into compliance” and supported extending the deadline to March 1, 2027, thus “giving them another season to do that.”
Ford’s suggestion was included in the motion, which passed unanimously.
The onsite residence also figures into the zoning change, as it was built without a permit.
Santos said “one of the positive side effects” of the zoning change is that “it will be easier for the property owner to get that residence permitted.”
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Are these people making money still?
IMHO:
Hmmm… Important Exportin’ Man…
(I think lyrics were borrowed from ‘New Riders of the Purple Sage’.)
Yes…But is he really O.K. Sam? http://www.nrpsmusic.com/music/lyrics/important.html
this farm is ony selling plant starts, not finished products so they are still able to make some profit, or at least pay their employees.
I think our Planning Commission needs to be rezoned. I can’t stand pot growers legal or not. They are just a blite on our society!
Marijuana growers I knew started a health clinic, a credit union, a radio station, multiple environmental organizations, were Little League coaches and grocery store clerks. I even know one who publishes your news. There are bad actors in every job including cops and preachers. But, in my experience, marijuana growers I know are generally good folks–outlaws and criminals are not necessarily the same thing.
They got theirs even if it was illegal!
Kim, I really could care less about what they started. Pot often leads to other drugs, and it is a huge problem in our country. If you like them that is fine with me as it is your choice, but not for me!
Martin, The proof that marijuana leads to harder drugs exist in lesser amounts than the proof that alcohol leads to harder drugs–that is to say there is no hard proof. Marijuana smoking is most likely hard on your lungs though even the proof on that is mixed. Based on scientific evidence, research, and public health data, alcohol is generally considered more harmful and dangerous to health than marijuana. Alcohol has higher toxicity, is more addictive, and is linked to significantly more fatal outcomes and long-term diseases, such as cancer and liver disease.
You can put down all marijuana growers but don’t expect not to get pushback because your evidence is inadequate.
Now you say my evidence is inadequate that is ok with me. You can keep pushing back, but I will no longer reply as it is wasting your time and mine. A please don’t tell me about cancer because I have it and I don’t drink or smoke.
THC mimics 2AG produced by our bodies endocannabinoid system. One of the things 2AG and THC do for our immune system is called apoptosis or programed cell death.
All cancer is due to a cell that is damaged and continues dividing and growing. Programmed cell death prevents cancer.
This physiological process is why even heavy cannabis smoking does not cause lung cancer. THC rocks! See pulmonologist’s Donald P Tashkin’s 2006 NIDA-funded study.
You are stubbornly ignoring the fact that the REAL gateway drug is beer. Starts in high school. Affects the decision making part of the brain, so hey, let’s try some weed! Or dump out a bowl of pills stolen from parents and eat them like candy. Beer. I’ve never known a pot smoker who was violent, aggressive, terrorizing and menacing but I’ve sure seen it in people who drink. Martin, you are sadly uninformed, but yes, entitled to your uninformed opinion. (As are most Reefer Madness holdouts)
Pablo Escobar built schools, paved roads, facilitated access to clean water, provided healthcare, supported churches, and invested in affordable housing in his community. Did that make him a good guy?
When a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit Japan in 2011, Two of the largest factions of the Yakuza – a brutal organized crime syndicate, aided people in the Kobe region by transporting supplies to emergency centers. They brought everything from food and water to medical supplies.
Al Capone opened one of Chicago’s most famous and prominent soup kitchens in November 1930. His kitchen served free breakfast, lunch, and dinner to thousands daily during the Great Depression.
Health Care? https://sohumhealth.org/news/local-hospital-history/
Radio Station? Where is it documented that KMUD was started by “growers”? https://kmud.org/about/history/
Credit Union? It could be said, if you are growing an illegal cash crop you would need somewhere to launder and conceal illegal funds’ origins through legitimate transactions…
Kym, you need to do better than the “apples and oranges” idiom you listed.
Wow. I should have read further before I posted.
Ed, you listed random people and organizations from different places. If the point you were trying to make is that even people with serious problems can do good things, then, yes, I agree and am glad that they can. What Kym is talking about is the large group of people who moved here in the back to the land days, and joined others of like mind who already lived here. Together, they built the Mateel, Beginnings, formed Community Credit Union, Redwoods Rural Health Center, KMUD, our VFD’s and more. And yes, many of them, though not all, grew cannabis. And they used a lot of the money they made to make this community better. That’s what she is saying, and I agree with her. I don’t remember you living here then, but perhaps I just never met you. If you want to disagree with Kym, please do so respectfully.
Marcia, who said I did not “disagree… respectfully”?
Too bad we never met, but I was there K-12, graduated SFHS 1975 and was always around until I sold our Garberville home in 2015. Not everyone who lived in Southern Humboldt was a part of the underground black market drug trade. Ask Kym, she knows my family history in Southern Humboldt.
Thanks for jumping in and speaking for Kym. What you or Kym do not want to talk about, are the problems that weed had in larger communities outside Southern Humboldt after it was sold. The Southern Humboldt Growers wanted no accountability in other communities outside Humboldt with the sale and distribution of a Schedule 1 controlled substance, sold by drug dealers in cities all over the US.
Where are all those growers now, after Southern Humboldt has hit rock bottom. Wait until the feds reschedule cannabis as Schedule III.
Please tell me, who were these “others of like mind who already lived here”. They to came to Southern Humboldt from some where else, so they could hide in the hills in the 70’s and 80’s to grow and sell weed on the black market.
Yippee ki-yay…
These conversations are always harder to have in print than in person, but I’ll do my best to explain what I am trying to say.
Human beings seem to want what isn’t always good for them: drugs, alcohol, too much sugar and fat….you know what I mean. So other human beings try to regulate what their fellow humans should have access to, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. I think it’s really important to protect minors from things that can harm them. Our country has tried to prohibit alcohol and is still trying to prohibit most drugs. Alcohol prohibition was unsuccessful, and I would argue that alcohol is more dangerous than cannabis, but I agree that all of these things can be dangerous if they are misused. As a singer, I don’t smoke anything, because it wrecks my voice, and music is more important to me.
I certainly know many people in this community who have never been part of the cannabis industry, either because they already had trades or professions that took up that time and energy, or because they just weren’t interested. Some of them already lived here, and some of them came here as part of the movement to leave the cities and move to the country. And yes, some of them joined with those who did grow cannabis to build the institutions I mentioned earlier. I think that was a sign of a strong community, with so many coming together, and I don’t understand why you find that controversial. The money that came from growing cannabis did help build all of that. And none of my friends, growers or and non-growers, were “hiding in the hills.” They were building lives, creating families, and being involved in this community.
Most of what we humans do has two sides: for example, agriculture uses lots of water and often chemicals, but provides us food. Growing cannabis has its two sides, as well. This is where I think education and parental guidance becomes crucial.
We can’t change the past, but I’d sure like to figure out how to rebuild our community for the future. That is where I’m putting my energy.
Thank you for the meaningful conversation. I agree, we cannot change the past. However, we should learn from our past, not embellish it. To “rebuild” Southern Humboldt means stepping away from cannabis, as a whole, and moving forward into a non-black market economy that does not effect the community as a whole. There are so many more awesome natural resources in Southern Humboldt for people to visit and spend money besides cannabis, IMHO…
Just published in JAMA that marijuana use in young people leads to psychotic disorders and a couple of other wonderful things – not sure but I think it was anxiety and depression? Kym, you should read it and report back what the other “things” really are. Apparently it was on NPR!!! I’m not worried because I was told years ago it was medicine and fixed everything from pain in the big toe to balding. Plus it’s not as bad as ETOH. Uhhh what’s that? And… people that were involved are philanthropists. Is JAMA considered evidence? – this week?
I highly recommend that young people don’t use marijuana, alcohol or caffeine.
Define young. Define use. When I was a 1960s teenager, we experimented…
“…I “highly” recommend…”…
Chuckle, chuckle…
Worse: Trump leads to fascism. Witness the millions of square feet of warehouse space soon to be repurposed for mass incarceration by private prisons.
Oy. That Regan-era gateway claim needs to be buried. It does not lead to other drugs. Even the Department of Justice, from the NCJ library has weighed in on that and said no it does not.
“Marijuana does not prime the brain for new psychopharmacological experiences. In the end, the gateway theory is not a theory at all. It is simply a description of the typical sequence in which multiple-drug users initiate the use of high-prevalence and low-prevalence drugs. For the large majority of people, marijuana is a terminus rather than a gateway drug.”
Terminus is a key term here. I know more than a few people that gave up all other things, alcohol in particular, in favor of marijuana. If you’re not interested in partaking, then don’t. Nobody is going to force you.
For themselves. While their own use of governmental benefits was paid by others. Your bit between criminals and outlaws is a distinction without a difference. There are horrible criminals who are good parents, support charities, visit their mothers on Mother’s Day, etc etc etc. But that doesn’t stop them from doing all the wrong things from murder to threats when it is their personal opinion that some outsider has wronged them. Charity starts at home and ends at home for the lawless. No one asks the taxpayer who should benefits.
Looking at it through rose tinted glasses does not make “good people” who work with “bad actors” innocent. People who take outside the law create a place for others more violence to grow.
“People in the mafioso’s world occupy a Venn diagram with no overlap between sets. Members are entitled to due process when accused, but that privilege is not extended to everyone. Ironically, this black and white view of insiders and outsiders is what allows the mentee to murder his patron, and the father, his son. In the mafioso’s belief system, the victim’s actions took him outside the protected circle of membership; now an outsider, he could be dispassionately destroyed.”
“While most associate Pablo Escobar with cocaine, brutal murders, and one of the largest drug operations in the world, few are aware that Escobar was a philanthropist who spent millions of his own money helping the citizens of Colombia.”
To really attack that idea, I suspect Trump sees good and evil with the same standards. That laws are an inconvenience to be worked around. No respect for anything outside his own judgement.
https://mafiagenealogy.com/2025/05/10/un-gangster-like-mafiosi-and-their-function-in-mafia-families/
https://www.ranker.com/list/mafia-good-deeds/chuck-stern
It’s almost like there is no singular definition of a “good person”, and certainly that line isn’t defined by legality.
I have no doubt that we can all think of people who conduct themselves in strictly legal ways that we still wouldn’t consider bad people and I have nearly as little doubt that we could all think of at least one crime that we wouldn’t say makes the criminal a bad person.
We all get to have our own opinions about the goodness or badness of the people around us, and outsourcing that decision about goodness and badness to the government by asserting that any criminality is definitely personal badness doesn’t buy anyone anymore credibility than anyone else.
I certainly appreciate that Kym seems to have a coherent view of the behaviors that she thinks define a person’s goodness, irrespective of their fidelity to local laws. That’s the most I ask for out of people, come to your own conclusions about how you assess people and apply the standard as consistently as you can muster. At least then we know what we’re talking about.
There is one thing that is a dividing line, one that doesn’t need a whole lot of personal evaluation whether it is made by a good person or a bad one. Which changes from person to person or that changes from situation to situation. And that is law.
Yes, we have “outsourced” a chunk of the decision to the public and call it law. That is just because many values are so idiosyncratic that society would never be able to organize a system of judgements and control if no consensus was written down. That is what law is. Consensus written down. Without it everyone is left to fend for themselves. Vendetta, mob violence, fights, warlords, etc each imposing their own rules. Law and the agreement of most people as to the need for law is all that keeps that at bay.
So then the decision to declare law is a matter of personal choice, especially over such a petty issue of making money by violating the law, is to open the door for this chaos. If one person operates this way, no one can really stop the next one making that choice. To aggregate with others doing the same is worse because it creates a place for all sorts of personal choices to flourish, from theft to murder or worse. And the people who created that place are responsible for the result even if their own hand is not on a gun.
So no, you can’t skate on this issue because you find it congenial or convenient. You either believe in the value of law or you don’t. And if you don’t like a specific law, approaching deliberately and systemically violating it on the basis of money? That could never be defined as good. That is how thieves, fraudsters, murders for profit rationalize their activities all the time. Just because they do normal human things with the fruits of their illegal gains does not mean they are good people. Did you not read the linked articles about the compartmentalized good such awful humans did? The blithely dismissed “some bad actors” is just flicking off responsibility for creating the stage on which they
act.
You are attempting to draw hard boundaries that don’t actually exist.
There has never been any code of laws that is actually consensus. Laws have always been imposed on a whole society by a subsection of that society with mixed results. In our case, and focused on this specific topic, this couldn’t be more plain. Despite our current system of law creation being a pretty dang good one as far as things go historically the laws around cannabis are so far away from consensus that the majority of the population of the united states currently lives under a system where different levels of government have very different legal stances on cannabis.
And there is a very wide gap between “believing in the value of Law” and believing that every law is legitimate, just, and equal. Chattel slavery was legal or a long time, was an abolitionist Quaker could not believe in the value of law if they undermined that law by helping on the underground railroad? And before you whip out those bunched up panties you keep close at hand, I am not comparing the morality of undermining human slavery to the morality of growing weed, I’m simply using an extreme example to demonstrate that you are making declarations that aren’t accurate.
Abiding by the law is always a personal choice. Everyone I’ve ever known has had some flexibility around based on their circumstances. They may hold with tight fidelity to tall traffic laws, but being late for an important engagement might inspire them to ignore that for just this one drive. They might decide that trespassing is justified in the case of entering a logging area to chain themselves to a particular tree, gate or piece of equipment, despite generally respecting individual private property. They might have decided that the firearm they keep in their cabin for bears and coyotes is going to stay even after their felony conviction. They might decide to trade in prohibited substances for money. Those are all personal choices available to all of us, they all have risks associated with them (like all choices do). But none of them have an objective universal morality to them. You or I can assign them moral value, but it’s always subjective.
If you choose to fully outsource your morality to the current law that is your choice. But there is nothing objectively more correct about it than anyone else’s moral system, it’s just the one that is currently allowed to be enforced with violence
You’re absolutely right, Kym!
I know Mr. Jakubal personally – and can vouch that he’d be about the last person to do environmental damage.
Good to hear! I don’t know him but I know you. So your word on him is valid for me…So many darned greenrushers posing as caring but they don’t- it’s made me not trust anybody anymore. But I still trust the grapevine more than any media report or marketing!
Thank you – I appreciate your confidence.
We have met. We have people in common. You are spoken of well. I know that you have spent decades working to protect and heal the forests and creeks and critters. I trust you, Dave…
81……3,348 plants down the road from there….shit was glorious
CDFW is absolutely ridiculous! A fence? Are you sh***ing me! Go gosh, we wouldn’t want anybody walking down to the creek. Maybe we should fence off every creek, river, etc.! How about just some signage? Golf courses, parks all over the country use signs.
You tell him, Kym!
I’ve seen the results of this guy’s “farming” and was not impressed. I hope it works out for the best, creates jobs and LEGAL commerce.