Testing lab and processing facility subject of upcoming virtual public hearings
Although cannabis dispensaries are prohibited in the town of Windsor, a large processing operation and a testing laboratory are being proposed at the edge of the town’s southern border in the Sonoma County airport business park area.
Each project is subject to an upcoming public hearing on Nov. 19. Both projects to be reviewed by the county’s Board of Zoning Adjustments but they have received preliminary planning staff approval where no environmental, traffic or public safety adverse impacts were listed. Public input will be collected via the internet-based Zoom tool.
Pure Analytics, founded by county native Samantha Miller and her husband Jason Bruhn, have been operating a cannabis testing laboratory since 2010 at 5468 Skylane Boulevard. They are seeking a 5-year limited-term conditional use permit for a 5,642 square foot facility, a continuation of their previous permit. Previously, their work was with medical cannabis only, though the application isn’t specific as to whether or not that will change.
Pure Analytics has served all sizes of medical cannabis industry client from small Mendocino and Humboldt county growers to larger commercial concerns such as OrganiCann and the SPARC dispensary, based in San Francisco with a Sonoma County presence as well.
The second operation is proposed at 2599 Laughlin Road, currently the location of planted vineyards and re-purposed agriculture buildings. The applicant is Gas Hill Cannabis Solutions Cooperative, led by Peter Goldbeck. A 5-year limited-term use permit is sought for a 4,200 square foot cannabis processing facility.
Neither project includes cultivation or sales of cannabis products.
The town of Windsor is one of a minority of county municipalities that outlaws cannabis dispensaries. The town council vote unanimously in 2017 to ban dispensaries, cannabis-related businesses and outdoor cultivation. The council action took place after California voters approved Prop. 64 in 2016 legalizing adult recreational use of cannabis. At the time the council’s objections cited protecting the “family-oriented atmosphere” of Windsor. Cannabis deliveries are allowed in the town of Windsor by out-of-town legal dispensaries.
For more information on the cannabis project use permits visit the public hearings calendar at the Permit Sonoma website.
