TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: County Counsel
MEETING DATE: January 26, 2021
DEPARTMENT CONTACT:
Christian Curtis
PHONE:
234-6885
ITEM TYPE: Consent Agenda
TIME ALLOCATED FOR ITEM: n/a
AGENDA TITLE:
title
Approval of Retroactive Agreement With Abbott & Kindermann, Inc. in the Amount of $50,000 to Provide Legal Services Effective January 4, 2021 Through June 30, 2021
End
RECOMMENDED ACTION/MOTION:
recommendation
Approve retroactive Agreement with Abbott & Kindermann, Inc. in the amount of $50,000 to provide legal services effective January 4, 2021 through June 30, 2021; and authorize Chair to sign same.
End
PREVIOUS BOARD/BOARD COMMITTEE ACTIONS:
None.
SUMMARY OF REQUEST:
County Counsel is requesting the Board contract with Abbott & Kindermann, Inc. to provide specialized legal services related to the CEQA issues involving the interface between the County's cannabis cultivation permitting system and state approvals by CDFA. CDFA, which is responsible for licensing cannabis cultivation businesses on a state level, has expressed a strong desire to avoid conducting lengthy and duplicative CEQA review on each individual permit application. Instead, CDFA seeks to rely on the prior environmental review conducted by the County. Because the County's cultivation permitting system is ministerial, however, CDFA has indicated that it cannot rely exclusively on that existing documentation to issue state discretionary permits. CDFA has, therefore, requested that the County generate additional documentation in order to allow applicants from Mendocino County to obtain state permits without undergoing a second, redundant round of environmental analysis.
Although this sort of CEQA documentation is common where two agencies both issue discretionary permits, there is less precedent and guidance where an agency issuing a discretionary permit chooses to rely on the environmental review conducted by an agency issuing a prior, ministerial permit. T...
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