(a)
Purpose and Intent. The purpose of this division is to protect agricultural land uses
on land designated on the Comprehensive Plan/Coastal Plan, Land Use Maps as A-I or
A-II, or on land zoned exclusively for agricultural use from conflicts with nonagricultural
land uses that may result in financial hardship to agricultural operators or the termination
of their operation.
(b)
Definitions.
(1)
"Agricultural land" means land within the A-I and A-II categories as designated pursuant
to the County of Santa Barbara Comprehensive Plan, Land Use Element, or land zoned
exclusively for agricultural use pursuant to the County of Santa Barbara Articles
II, III and IV Zoning Ordinances.
(2)
"Agricultural use" means and includes, but is not limited to, the tilling of the soil,
the raising of crops, horticulture, aviculture, apiculture, livestock farming, the
raising of small animals and poultry, dairying, animal husbandry, wineries processing
grapes produced on the premises, and the sorting, cleaning, packing and storing of
agricultural products preparatory to sale and/or shipment in their natural form when
such products are produced on the premises, including all uses customarily incidental
thereto, but not including slaughterhouse, fertilizer works, commercial packing or
processing plant or plant for the reduction of animal matter, or any other use which
is similarly objectionable because of odor, smoke, dust, fumes, vibration or danger
to life or property. "Agricultural use" does not include any activity, recreational
or medicinal, including the cultivation, possession, manufacturing, distribution,
processing, storing, laboratory testing, packaging, labeling, transportation, delivery,
or sale of cannabis and cannabis products in accordance with chapter 35, zoning, of the Santa Barbara County Code.
(3)
"Cannabis" means all parts of the plant
Cannabis sativa Linnaeus
,
Cannabis indicia
, or
Cannabis ruderalis
, whether growing or not; the seeds thereof; the resin extracted from any part of
the plant; and every compound, manufacture, salt, derivative, mixture, or preparation
of the plant, its seeds or resin, including, but not limited to, separated resin.
Cannabis also means medical and non-medical marijuana. Cannabis does not include industrial
hemp, as defined in Section 11018.5 of the Health and Safety Code as may be amended.
(c)
Findings.
(1)
The board of supervisors finds that it is in the public's interest to preserve and
protect agricultural land and operations within the County of Santa Barbara and to
specifically protect these lands for exclusive agricultural use. The board of supervisors
also finds that residential development adjacent to agricultural land and operations
often leads to restrictions on farm operations to the detriment of the adjacent agricultural
uses and economic viability of the county's agricultural industry as a whole. The
purposes of this chapter, therefore, are to promote the general health, safety and
welfare of the county, to preserve and protect for exclusive agricultural use those
lands zoned for agricultural use, to support and encourage continued agricultural
operations in the county, and to forewarn prospective purchasers or residents of property
adjacent to or near agricultural operations of the inherent potential problems associated
with such purchase or residence including, but not limited to, the sounds, odors,
dust and chemicals that may accompany agricultural operations.
(2)
The further purpose of this provision is to promote a good neighbor policy between
agriculturalists and residents by advising purchasers and residents of property adjacent
to or near agricultural operations of the inherent potential problems associated with
such purchase or residence including, but not limited to, the sounds, odors, dust
and chemicals that may accompany agricultural operations so that such purchasers and
residents will understand the inconveniences that accompany living side by side to
agriculture and be prepared to accept such problems as the natural result of living
in or near agricultural areas.
(3)
Given the status of cannabis as a highly regulated controlled substance, which as
of the date of the ordinance amendment adding this subsection is illegal under federal
law, cannabis cultivation involves potential adverse effects that differ from the
cultivation of other types of crops (e.g., criminal activity, and impacts on children
and sensitive populations). State and county cannabis regulations include a number
of development standards and permitting requirements to avoid or mitigate these adverse
effects, which are not required for the cultivation of other types of crops on agricultural
lands. Therefore, cannabis cultivation and cannabis operations are excluded from the
protections of this section.
(d)
No agricultural activity, operation or facility, or appurtenances thereof, conducted
or maintained for commercial purposes, and in a manner consistent with proper and
accepted customs and standards, as established and followed by similar agricultural
operations in the same locality, shall be or become a nuisance, private or public,
due to any changed condition in or about the locality, after the same has been in
operation for more than three years if it was not a nuisance at the time it began.
(e)
Public Information. Information concerning the ordinance codified in this section
shall be made available by the County of Santa Barbara resource management department,
including the following notice:
Santa Barbara County is an agricultural county with many areas zoned for agricultural
operations. The presence of farms and ranches yields significant aesthetic and economic
benefits to the residents of the County. Thus, the County's agriculture must be protected,
including in areas where it is near residential development and Santa Barbara County
has enacted Chapter 3-23 of its County code which provides that properly conducted agricultural operations
will not be deemed a nuisance.
The ordinance further requires the County to make information on the ordinance and
its provisions available to the public. Accordingly, if the property you own, rent,
or lease is located close to agricultural lands or operations, you may be subject
to inconvenience or discomfort from the following agricultural operations: cultivation
and tilling of the soil; burning of agricultural chemicals including, but not limited
to, the application of pesticides and fertilizers; and production, irrigation, pruning,
growing, harvesting and processing of any agricultural commodity, including horticulture,
timber, apiculture, the raising of livestock, fish, poultry and commercial practices
performed as incident to or in conjunction with such agricultural operation, including
preparation for market, delivery to storage or market, or to carriers or transportation
to market. These operations may generate dust, smoke, noise and odor.
(f)
Severability. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause or phrase of this section
is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of a court
of competent jurisdiction, it shall not affect the remaining portions of the chapter.
