An environmental document covering 45 cannabis cultivation operations representing more than 9.1 million square feet of grow space on the outskirts of Salinas was approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
Officially known as a mitigated negative declaration, the document evaluates the cumulative environmental impact of the majority of the burgeoning local cannabis industry’s cultivation capacity in the unincorporated areas of Monterey County.
It allows the 45 cannabis cultivators, all represented by two prominent local law firms — JRG Attorneys at Law and Law Offices of Jennifer S. Rosenthal — to avoid conducting independent environmental reviews for each application while identifying their cumulative impacts on traffic and energy demand.
Of those applicants, 34 are already operating while their land use permit applications are pending, representing about 7 million square feet of cannabis cultivation.
Read more at montereyherald.com