Santa Barbara County staff are recommending the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday give seven Carpinteria cannabis farms more time to install carbon filtration systems that help “scrub” the smell of cannabis out of the air. 

County staff are also recommending the supervisors deny a time extension request from Valley Crest Farms, a 9-acre farm at 5980 Casitas Pass Road, stating the operators “waited to begin compliance efforts.”

The supervisors will review the eight one-time extension requests at their Tuesday meeting in Santa Maria. All of those eight farms applied for time extensions by the deadline.

The supervisors last March set a one-year deadline of March 18, 2026, for all indoor county cannabis operators to update odor abatement plans, as well as install and operate the carbon filtration systems or equivalent equipment.

Cannabis odor has been a hot-button topic in Carpinteria since farmers began converting old flower greenhouses into cannabis farms roughly a decade ago. At first, cannabis was grown and sold to medical dispensaries under medical cannabis permits; operators began pursuing the recreational market after the state of California legalized recreational use in 2016. 

The county received more than 3,700 complaints from residents about cannabis odor between 2018 and early 2025, as discussed at a Carpinteria meeting centered on the issue in March of last year. 

At that same meeting, some residents said they gave up filing complaints because they felt it wasn’t making a difference. 

Under the new rules, the operators must install runtime meters, which help monitor the equipment, and farms in the coastal zone must comply with a new odor threshold. Greenhouses that use “misting” vapor-phase systems to help with odor must also shut those down and replace them with the carbon filtration systems. 

The systems, known also as carbon scrubbers, are said to eliminate the smell of cannabis by 84%, by one study’s estimate.

They’re also expensive — roughly $22,000 each, with a recommended 10 per acre.

Those new rules adopted last year apply to indoor greenhouse farms and processing facilities both in inland areas and in the coastal zone, the latter of which are spread across the Carpinteria Valley. The supervisors last year lowered the allowed cannabis growth to 1,417 acres in all unincorporated areas, with 134 acres for Carpinteria. Carpinteria cannabis is grown year-round in vented greenhouses. 

Farm operators were allowed to apply for time extensions due to supply chain delays and on-site or off-site power supply upgrades, among other reasons subject to county discretion, but they must have done so by Dec. 18, 2025.

Farms that are denied a time extension, don’t meet the March 18, 2026, deadline or — if given an extension — don’t meet the extension deadline, will have their business license suspended or revoked. 

Operators can appeal the county’s decision, but until a new license is obtained, they can’t legally operate. 

Three inland, indoor cannabis farms have not submitted updated odor abatement plans to the county and have not installed the carbon filtration equipment. 

The three — Fields LLC, Central Coast Agriculture Farm LLC, and Chips 18 Inc. — also did not apply for time extensions, per county staff. 

Of the Carpinteria Valley’s 22 indoor cannabis farm operators, 11 have scrubbers or an equivalent installed, three plan to install by March 18, and eight are requesting more time to install the scrubbers, according to county staff. 

None of the 22 have approved updated odor abatement plans as of Thursday.

Of the 11 farms that already have the scrubbers installed, eight still have to submit updated odor abatement plans to the county by the deadline. Three with scrubbers have submitted their revised odor abatement plans and are waiting on county approval. 

Of the 11 farms that don’t have scrubbers installed, three plan to install by March 18, pending county approval of their odor abatement plans. The remaining seven have submitted updated odor abatement plans, but are requesting more time to install the scrubbers. 

Only one farm is requesting more time to both submit an updated odor abatement plan and install the scrubbers. 

The seven operators that have received a county staff recommendation are all requesting 12-month time extensions.

With the exception of Bosim 1628 Management Company LLC at 1628 Cravens Lane and G&K Produce / K&G Flowers at 3480 Via Real, which cited supply chain delays and a need for power supply upgrades from Southern California Edison, county staff are largely recommending extensions of less than one year.  

Those shorter recommended extensions include two months for CP1 Supply Systems Inc. at 4505 Foothill Road and Emmawood B1 LLC at 5888 Via Real, which have submitted revised odor abatement plans and have had their equipment delivered; and six months for CKC Farms Inc. & Life Remedy Farms at 5138 Foothill Road, New Generation Farms Inc. & Blue Whale Agriculture at 5775 Casitas Pass Road, and Prime Time Farms at 5554 Casitas Pass Road. The latter three have submitted revised odor abatement plans but have not had their equipment delivered. 

The 12-month time extension request from Valley Crest Farms should be denied because “the operator waited to begin compliance efforts and did not demonstrate delays were due to supply chain,” county staff said in the staff report released Thursday. 

According to county staff, Valley Crest Farms’ time extension application said that the operators waited until October to contact a consulting firm about preparing their revised odor abatement plan. 

They secured a different firm on Dec. 10 and submitted their time extension application to the county on Dec. 17, one day before the county’s application extension deadline, citing supply chain delays. 

Their application shows they purchased 45 units of scrubbers from Genesis Air Systems on Dec. 17. 

Those units were slated to ship on Jan. 30, but due to weather, shipping was delayed until Feb. 10. The applicant had 14 units in their possession as of the staff report’s preparation, with another 31 units expected on Thursday. 

Operators submitted a revised odor abatement plan on Feb. 2 of this year, which is under county review. 

Per the staff report: “…according to the owner’s own information, the owner delayed almost seven months before starting to work towards compliance with the ordinance. These efforts could have occurred much earlier, which would have allowed the owner to meet the March 18, 2026 deadline.”

“(…) The delay was not due to supply chain delays, on or off-site power supply upgrades, or other similar circumstances that are outside the owner’s control. The delay was caused by the owner’s lack of diligence.”

Valley Crest Farms owners Case and Alex Van Wingerden did not respond to a Noozhawk request for comment about county staff’s recommendation to deny their 12-month extension request. 

They also did not clarify whether those 31 units had been received on Thursday as scheduled.

The County Planning Commission last year denied the farm operators’ request to expand operating hours to 24/7. 

That farm is being sued by its neighbors, who allege their homes and businesses nearby have suffered due to cannabis odor. Santa Barbara County Superior Judge Thomas Anderle last year certified the lawsuit as a class-action case.  

The Board of Supervisors’ Tuesday meeting will be held in Santa Maria at the Joseph Centeno Betteravia Government Administration Buildling in the board hearing room at 511 E. Lakeside Pkwy. starting at 9 a.m. The cannabis item is the last one of the day. 

Members of the public can attend in person or via Zoom. The meeting will also be streamed live on local cable channel 20; online through the county’s website; and on YouTube in English and Spanish. Comments can also be submitted in writing to sbcob@countyofsb.org and will be accepted up until Monday at 5 p.m. 

Starting March 19, County Planning & Development staff will start performing both announced and surprise inspections on the farms to ensure the equipment is working and installed. 

They will use the Nasal Ranger, a portable olfactometer that measures odor strength, to ensure the Carpinteria farms are complying with the county’s new odor threshold. 

They will also continue reviewing odor abatement plans and bringing farms into compliance.