In a case that could have broad implications for commercial cannabis growers, Superior Court Judge Thomas Anderle ruled on Wednesday that the neighbors within a one-mile radius of Valley Crest Farms, a cannabis greenhouse operation in the Carpinteria Valley, can collectively seek damages for the pervasive smell of pot invading their properties.
The class-action lawsuit against Valley Crest was filed at the Santa Barbara Courthouse in 2023 by the Santa Barbara Coalition for Responsible Cannabis, a countywide nonprofit citizens’ group; William Hahn and Danielle Dall’Armi, owners of the Rose Story Farm, a commercial rosebush operation next to Valley Crest; and Chonnie Bliss Jacobson, a neighbor who lives half a mile away.
Valley Crest, a nine-acre “grow” at 5890 Casitas Pass Road, has been harvesting cannabis every week for more than five years, the plaintiffs say. In court documents, they seek relief from what they describe as the “awful smells and noxious odors and chemicals that they are being assaulted with on a daily basis in their homes.” The stench of cannabis, they allege, has lowered their property values, driven away their tenants, reduced their business incomes, and interfered with “the quiet use and enjoyment of their property.”