Sprawling Marijuana Cultivation Facility Proposed in Riverside County Desert

DESERT HOT SPRINGS, CA - The Desert Hot Springs Planning Commission is expected Tuesday to recommend approval of a conditional use permit for a sprawling marijuana cultivation facility, another step toward the city's long- term plan of heading the state's cannabis cultivation industry.

According to a staff report, the planning commission will recommend that the city council approve the application from edibles cultivation company G Farma Labs to build a compound totaling 102,000 square feet on a vacant seven- acre lot on Little Morongo Road, between Dillon Road and 18th Avenue.

It would consist of five buildings, including three permanent greenhouses, an operations and processing building for packaging goods and extracting oils and butters from cannabis plants, and a guardhouse.

The plan also includes an interim cultivation facility of up to 80,000 square feet for the company's use until the greenhouses and processing buildings are constructed. The staff report indicates that if the plan is approved, the interim facility would be up and running soon, "to take maximum advantage of the 2016 growing season that lasts from June until October."

Construction would then commence in early 2017. G Farma Labs anticipates a completion date sometime toward the end of 2017 for the "Innovation Center," according to its website.

The planning commission report cites the project's economic benefits for the city.

"In addition to increased tax revenues, the project also has the potential to bring jobs, a diversified labor force and unique industry to the city, which can further bolster growth, economic activity and tax revenue," the report says.

In recent years, Desert Hot Springs has turned to marijuana as a viable tax revenue source, with the city's voters approving initiatives in 2014 that established sales taxes on medical and recreational marijuana products and taxation of square footage on cultivation facilities within the city.

The city is poised to become one of the state's major players in the legal marijuana industry, with California voters expected to weigh in on the "Adult Use of Marijuana Act" this November.

The city council approved a $378,000 land sale last week to Los Angeles- based Pineapple Express Two, LLC, for a 1.26-acre parcel east of Little Morongo Road and west of Cabot Road. That site will not be a cultivation facility, but rather a series of condominiums leased to individuals who are licensed to grow medicinal marijuana.

— Reported by City News Service. Image via Shutterstock.