County Refuses to Shut Down Wellspring Road Marijuana Operation
Embedded Files
Black circles are residents who reported odors from 2274 Wellspring Road (red square). Each circle is 1,000 feet. If you smelled the cannabis and your home is not on this map, please respond here.
By Craig S. Harrison
Sonoma County seemed to be on the verge of terminating the cannabis operation at 2274 Wellspring Road (7170 Bennett Valley Road) early this year when it first suspended and then revoked the five cultivation permits there. The growers were caught cultivating with an unauthorized water source, processing cannabis onsite without a permit, and doing unpermitted electrical work.
Unfortunately, the revocation affects only the cultivation permit (10,000 square feet) issued to the property owner, Anatoliy Kreshchenovskiy. The other four cultivators who apparently lease land from the owner can grow 33,560 square feet of marijuana this season.
The County Agriculture Department wanted to revoke all permits because they are managed as an integrated operation. County Counsel, which often uses twisted logic to protect cannabis growers at the expense of residents, thwarted that recommendation. It insisted that the violations concern the land so that only the landowner’s permit should be revoked. Each grower used illegal water; the growers were processing onsite illegally; all growers benefitted from the unpermitted electrical work, and each of them generates income from cultivating. County Counsel’s argument is silly.
This operation has been a public nuisance since it began in 2018. It has never undergone environmental review, as required by the California Environmental Quality Act. The current transgressions are only the most recent violations of permits, County ordinances, and the Bennett Valley Area Plan. Other violations include growing illegally in a barn, placing sea cargo containers and hoop houses on the property without undergoing design review, and the use of night lights. The operation violates the Bennett Valley Area Plan (Land Use Policy 2), which forbids commercial development.
The widespread marijuana stench each autumn affects scores of residents. It was particularly foul in 2023, and residents a mile away complained as depicted in the map. If you smelled the cannabis and your home is not on the map, please respond here.
Some residents were unable to use their yards or open their windows for weeks. The skunky odors include Beta-Myrcene, a chemical the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment lists as a carcinogen. This is a public nuisance.
We understand that Kreshchenovskiy may now grow hemp, which is the identical plant as marijuana except with less psychoactive chemicals. If he does, even more Bennett Valley residents may be exposed to the stench of marijuana and the carcinogen Beta-Myrcene.
Aerial view of the massive Wellspring marijuana grow site
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