Poll finds sharp division in Sonoma County over cannabis cultivation

Sonoma County voters embraced marijuana legalization when it was on the ballot two years ago, but now that it’s a reality — a rapidly evolving industry and source of ongoing dispute — nearly half of those surveyed say they don’t want cannabis cultivation anywhere near their homes, according to a poll run by the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

A substantial plurality, 46 percent, of poll respondents said they “would not feel safe with a cannabis farm within any proximity to my residence,” while only 19 percent said they would feel safe with a farm adjacent to their residence.

Almost one-third of respondents, 31 percent, said they would feel safe with such a garden “not adjacent but within one mile of my residence.”

The telephone poll, which surveyed 500 registered county voters in the first week of May, included three cannabis-related questions, including how respondents would feel about the presence of a legal outdoor cannabis farm of 1 acre or less.

The strong not-in-my-backyard sentiment mirrors a contentious debate — tinged with fear of violent crime and resentment of intrusive pot operations — over the county’s effort to strike a balance between maintaining and taxing a burgeoning industry emerging from the shadows of prohibition and minimizing the impact on rural neighborhoods.

Residents won a major battle in December 2016 when Sonoma County supervisors rejected a staff recommendation to allow small-scale, so-called “cottage grows” in rural neighborhoods and restricted commercial cultivation to agricultural lands and large country lots.

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But competing bands of cannabis backers and unhappy residents packed a board meeting as recently as April, and county staffers have drafted revised land-use rules for commercial cultivation, including some flexibility in where farms may be located.

Proposition 64, which legalized adult recreational use of marijuana and a supporting industry in November 2016, got a nod from 57 percent of California voters and 59 percent in Sonoma County, a cannabis hub set between the famed Emerald Triangle growing region and San Francisco, where 74 percent of voters supported legalization.

The Press Democrat Poll also asked respondents what impact they thought legalization would have on local crime and a majority said it either have “no effect” (40 percent) or lead to a decrease crime (18 percent), while 35 percent said it would increase crime.

Former Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas opposed Proposition 64 in 2016, contending it would lead to an increase in violent crime, and sheriff’s officials have repeatedly asserted that has proven true.

But statistics compiled by the Sheriff’s Office at The Press Democrat’s request do not bear that out. There were 16 cannabis-related home-invasion robberies in the unincorporated area, Windsor and Sonoma from 2013 through 2016, an average of four crimes a year.

In 2017 and through May 8 this year, the period since adult use became legal, there have been six such crimes.

The two deadliest cannabis crimes — a Forestville triple homicide in 2013 and a Sebastopol double fatality in 2016 — both occurred during a marijuana deal gone bad while recreational use by adults was illegal.

Zeroing in on one of the most controversial issues, The Press Democrat Poll asked respondents where they thought cannabis should be grown and more than one-third, 36 percent, said “outside, but only in agricultural areas,” a condition that somewhat matches current county regulations.

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