The Camarillo City Council rejected a proposed moratorium on industrial hemp cultivation, bucking the trend of hemp bans in other cities in the county.
The ordinance, which needed a four-fifths vote to pass, was rejected 3-2 in a council vote during a meeting on Wednesday night. Mayor Kevin Kildee, Vice Mayor Tony Trembley and Councilwoman Charlotte Craven voted in favor of the moratorium, while council members Shawn Mulchay and Susan Santangelo voted against it.
The moratorium would have stopped all future industrial hemp cultivation, processing and manufacturing within the city for the next 45 days, with the possibility of an up to two-year extension. It was added to the City Council agenda over odor complaints from residents and public safety concerns.
Andy Calderwood, the county’s deputy agriculture commissioner and head of its hemp program, said roughly 4,000 acres are registered this year for industrial hemp. Only one field measuring less than 20 acres has industrial hemp within Camarillo city limits. Across from the field, on the other side of Pleasant Valley Road, 270 acres of industrial hemp are growing on unincorporated land under the county’s jurisdiction. The hemp permit for the land expires in May 2020.
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