Santa Rosa receives first applications to grow commercial marijuana

Three groups stepped forward last week to ask Santa Rosa for permission to open the city’s first commercial medical marijuana growing operations.

The requests, and several more expected in coming days, reflect the high level of interest the marijuana industry is showing in establishing larger-scale cultivation businesses in the city under new rules approved by the City Council in February.

Three outfits aligned with the local cannabis industry submitted paperwork to the city last week for conditional use permits to grow marijuana in industrial sections of the city, the only zoning districts where such uses will be permitted under the new rules. The city began accepting such applications on April 18.

Planning Director Clare Hartman said she’s been getting calls on a daily basis from people asking about the new permit program for commercial medical marijuana.

Based on conversations she’s had with potential applicants, Hartman said she expects a total of about 10 groups to apply for such permits in the “first rush” of requests.

Plenty of others have inquired, but some seemed put off by the three- to- five-month timeframe, permit expense or the transparency of the public process, she said.

“It’s going to be an open and transparent process, so that is discouraging some applicants from moving forward,” Hartman said.

That didn’t scare off 43-year-old Brian Dombrowski, who plans to grow pot under the name Aim High Cultivation.

He showed up at City Hall on the first day possible, paid $13,264 in permit fees and is now waiting for his application to be assigned to a planner.

From there, his application will need the approval of the Planning Commission and, if appealed, the City Council. He said he has no problem discussing his plans in an open public forum.

“The more people who are doing this the right way and legally, the better,” he said.

The Chicago native said he’s been involved in the medical marijuana industry for several years and has helped open dispensaries in the area, including the Valley of the Moon Collective, which opened in 2010 but closed after it was found to be operating without the proper permits.

“I’m really excited about bringing some of my friends and acquaintances out of the gray area,” Dombrowski said.

He said he doesn’t mind people knowing precisely where he’s growing marijuana. A military veteran with experience in retail security, Dombrowski said he’ll ensure the building is safe. “I want it more secure than a bank,” he said.

That will include a cutting-edge camera system that the police may be able to remotely monitor in the event of an alarm, he said.

Finding a suitable location wasn’t too tough. The 12,110-square-foot building on Industrial Drive is owned by his father-in-law, Rick Dennett, who runs Dennett Tile and Stone out of the location, Dombrowski said. It’s located across from Bottle Barn and near the new Plow Brewing Co.

If his permit is granted and the tile company moves out, Dombrowski reckons he’ll be able to grow about 1,300 plants at a time, based on power requirements for the high-intensity lights he’ll use.

There will be no retail sales at the location, and he’ll sell directly to dispensaries, he said.

Dombrowski said he’s more than 300 feet from a residential area and 600 feet from a school, as required by the rules.

But he knows that there are youth-related uses in the area, including a My Gym. He plans to operate his business discreetly, with access away from the street, he said. “My daughter has gone to My Gym. I get it,” he said.

Another applicant, a Larkspur attorney named Karen Kissler, is the owner of a dispensary off Sebastopol Road called Alternatives, A Health Collective. Kissler says she plans to do business as Emerald Alliance Group.

In her application, Kissler made it clear she intends to run a full-service operation. She said was seeking a permit to allow for the “planting, growing, harvesting, drying, curing, grading or trimming of cannabis … that is intended to be transported, processed, manufactured, distributed, dispersed, delivered or sold” in accordance with the state’s new medical marijuana laws.

She praised the city for its “enlightened and practical perspective on the cannabis industry” and said her application reflects the city’s goal “of bringing transparency to a formerly underground economy.”

Kissler, who said she’s been growing cannabis for 33 years, said she plans to build a 20,000-square-foot building on a vacant lot at 2875 Sebastopol Road. The 1-acre property is on the market for $375,000.

She, too, stressed the security measures she plans to employ on her windowless building, including interior and exterior cameras, steel doors and a rigorous screening process for employees, as well as other measures that would “insure only those with the utmost integrity may enter the facility.”

Kissler did not reply to a call for comment Friday.

The third application was made by Jesse Narvaez. He’s a co-owner of Deep Roots, a hydroponics supply store with locations in Santa Rosa and Sebastopol. He’s proposing a 6,000-square foot operation on Coors Court, an area of small auto repair businesses off Dowd Drive near several of the city’s largest car dealerships.

He’s calling the operation the Santa Rosa Community Garden Collective. He said he plans to upgrade the electrical system in the building and divide it into seven separate growing areas.

Narvaez did not return a call for comment Friday.

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.