A lawsuit accusing a group of cannabis operators of causing odors in Carpinteria has been certified as a class-action case and could add more neighbors as plaintiffs.
Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle approved the class-action certification last week for the lawsuit filed against Valley Crest and Ceres Farms on Casitas Pass Road.
Under the court’s decision, residents who live within a mile of the cannabis farms and purchased their properties before Jan. 19, 2016, can join the case.
The class-action lawsuit against cannabis owners is considered the first of its kind in California, according to Robert Curtis, the attorney for the plaintiffs.
He said the case allows the plaintiffs to apply more pressure against the various operators in Carpinteria.
“They didn’t believe we could certify the class,” Curtis said. “They thought, ‘OK, the worst we will have to face is a lawsuit by two people.’ And now, once the class is notified of this, it’s potentially a hundred property owners whose values have been affected (…) who can participate in the lawsuit.”
The class-action case is a continuation of a lawsuit filed in 2023 by the Santa Barbara Coalition for Responsible Cannabis, Dr. William Hahn and Dani Dall’Armi, Chonnie Bliss Jacobsen, and individual property owners near the cannabis farms.
Documents for the case say the plaintiffs have “to endure an ever-present noxious odor in their homes, neighborhood, and on roads and driveways from the cultivation and processing of cannabis.”
Two of the plaintiffs, Hahn and Dall’Armi, say their rose business at 5950 Casitas Pass Road has suffered because of the continuing odor.
The pair blame the farm’s vapor misting system, which uses deodorized mist to manage the smell of the cannabis, for constantly spraying chemicals on their property, according to the lawsuit. They also claim that they have lost tenants because of the odor and suffer from headaches, nausea and other symptoms.
The operators being sued include Valley Crest Farms, Ceres Farms and the Van Wingerden Family Trust. The lawsuit also lists Case Van Wingerden and Alex Van Wingerden, who own and operate the farms, as defendants.
A civil complaint represents only the plaintiff side of a story.
Noozhawk reached out to the attorneys for the defendants, but they did not respond to requests for comment.
Valley Crest Farm, at 5980 Casitas Pass Road, was approved to operate in 2022. The county Board of Supervisors allowed a permit without requiring carbon scrubbers to address odor, and allowed the site to keep using the misting system.
The Planning Commission had recommended scrubbers as a condition of approval.
Valley Crest’s approval was granted despite pushback from residents and officials from Cate School, which is near the site.
The Board of Supervisors did require carbon scrubbers for the neighboring Ceres Farm.
Cannabis odor has been an ongoing issue for Santa Barbara County. The Board of Supervisors has heard multiple complaints from residents, especially in the Carpinteria Valley where there is a concentration of farms.
According to Curtis, the county’s cannabis ordinance is one of the reasons operators choose to operate in Santa Barbara. He called the decision to make the civil case a class action will allow the community to fight back against cannabis companies.
“They’re here just because Santa Barbara has some of the most lenient cannabis-growing laws in the state, and they’re here to profit off that leniency,” Curtis said. “But at the same time, that’s harming the people who live day to day in the valley. And so, I feel very vindicated that we can provide at least this interim step towards getting those people some relief.”
The Board of Supervisors decided in January to start requiring carbon scrubbers for indoor and greenhouse cannabis sites in the county and is expected to discuss the issue again at next week’s meeting.
The county also has been reworking the cannabis ordinance to set an odor limit for farms, determine where on the property line the odors are measured, and require regular inspections.