By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter – Part 1 of 2
Perched atop a tall hill in the midst of Morriston farm country in south Levy County is a small hemp farm that isn’t violating any county or state laws but has drawn the ire of neighbors living on the street below.
Resident Ray Anderson, who lives on SE 165th Av., said the hemp farm literally dropped out of the sky one day and began operating along SE 160th Ave. above his home.
The owners of Central Flora Farms, LLC., who aren’t local, set up four greenhouses to begin growing hemp, a type of marijuana plant that is very low in THC, the active ingredient in marijuana that gets people high.
The state requires hemp to be grown with .03 percent THC content, not enough to get people high. By contrast, marijuana sold on the street typically has a THC content of 20 percent or more. Marijuana gets people high, hemp doesn’t.
When Anderson described the hemp farm as literally being dropped out of the sky, he was using a figure of speech to point out that he and his neighbors received no advance notice the hemp farm was locating next door to them.
Hemp isn’t considered marijuana, even though technically it is a marijuana plant minus the high levels of THC.
Some of the hemp in Florida is being processed for an over-the-counter ointment known as CBD oil, which is legally sold in some Levy County stores. The Hemp Station in Chiefland, owned by City Police Chief Scott Anderson, is a popular destination for hemp products including CBD oil.
Ray Anderson (apparently no kin to Scott Anderson) appeared before Levy County Commissioners on Jan. 5 asking the board to consider restructuring its laws to give residents like himself and his four neighbors an opportunity to voice their opinions about hemp farms moving in next door to them.
“When I was a young man I used to watch horror flicks. One of the things I learned from horror flicks is vampires can’t get in your house if you don’t let them,” Anderson told commissioners. “So we should endeavor to make this difficult to do this in an area that’s inappropriate. It should be restricted to industrially zoned areas and not drop in out of the sky.”
Anderson and his neighbors had no opportunity to provide public input when Central Flora Farms, LLC began constructing the four greenhouses on agriculturally zoned property about 11 miles southeast of Williston.
Hemp farms are licensed by the Florida Department of Agriculture to operate exclusively on agriculturally zoned property in Florida. Much of the unincorporated rural area of Levy County is zoned agriculture-rural residential, which means agriculture and residences often co-exist as neighbors.
Hemp farming is something new in Levy County. Seven state-licensed hemp farms using 10 fields for growing operations have moved into the county since the Florida Legislature passed a bill in 2019 legalizing hemp farming. In April of 2020, the state finalized rules governing hemp farms. Some of the hemp farms use greenhouses.
Central Flora Farms is one of the hemp farming operations in Levy County. The county’s laws don’t require agricultural operations to go through the public hearing process in most cases. The exception is large commercial dairies or concentrated cattle feeding operations that need a county permit due to the potential impact on neighbors with odors and flies.
Levy County may be preempted by state regulations governing hemp farms. County staff was instructed to research whether the county can impose any local regulations to govern hemp farming.
“Mr. Anderson we will look at your recommendations and look at what we can do to regulate or control what is going on,” said Commission Chairman John Meeks, adding that the county may be “superseded by state government on decision making.”
Among other things, Anderson was concerned about the possibility of processing facilities being constructed by the hemp farm near his home. County Attorney Anne Bast Brown said the county code would require a special exception permit before hemp processing would be allowed. Special exception permits require public hearings. She also pointed out that hemp is not marijuana under state law.
Levy County Development Department Director David Meyer said his office issued Central Flora Farms a permit to install a 200 amp electrical power supply for the hemp farm and he said there is nothing in the county code that would prohibit the farm from applying for more power. He said the farm legally erected greenhouses.
“I know the property was already zoned agriculture. They were allowed to put up these greenhouses but they’re not allowed by the building code to do any processing on the property period,” he said. “They can grow. They can ship. That’s it. If they start processing it becomes a commercial endeavor and then they’re going to have to have a commercial license.”
Ray Anderson said he is aware the hemp farm is operating legally but he wants the county to limit where hemp farms can operate either by mandating distance requirements from residences or zoning regulations that protect neighboring residents. One of his recommendations suggests the county commission petition the Florida Legislature “to make sure some type of process accommodates so the county has some say and people like me get to say something about it before it happens.”
He also believes when recreational marijuana is approved by the state, the hemp farmers could very well convert their operations to legalized marijuana growing operations. He said the state has fallen behind on revenues due to COVID-19. If recreational marijuana is legalized, it could be taxed by the state as a revenue source.
“The lure of money is going to hang out there for them to approve this,” Anderson said. “The burden is not going to fall on the state, it’s going to fall on the counties to deal with this particular kind of businesses,” Anderson said.
Anderson said the county needs to be more involved in approving hemp farms.
“The tragic part of this tale is that Levy County is not part of the process. What they (Central Flora Farms) have done is absolutely legal. It is really important that we start focusing on getting the county involved in this,” Anderson said.
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Enterprise Reporting by Terry Witt; Board of Levy County Commission
Regular meeting January 5, 2021; Posted January 17, 2021
