The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors opened public comment Tuesday on a proposed cap of 12 retail cannabis licenses in unincorporated areas. The room got loud fast.

Supervisor Rex Bohn introduced the ordinance amendment, framing it as a response to “community saturation concerns” from residents in the Garberville corridor and parts of southern Humboldt. The current framework places no hard limit on retail licenses outside city boundaries, though the permitting process itself has kept the number to 17 active dispensaries countywide.

“We’re not trying to shut anybody down,” Bohn said. “We’re trying to keep some breathing room between these operations and the neighborhoods.”

That did not land well with operators.

Twelve people testified during public comment, and the split was almost even. Residents from the Redway area and Salmon Creek described traffic increases, litter in parking areas, and what one speaker called “the vibe shift” on Redwood Drive. Several referenced the 2018 ordinance that first allowed retail in unincorporated zones.

On the other side, dispensary owners and their employees pushed back hard. Maria Delgado, who runs a licensed retail operation south of Garberville, called the cap “a backdoor prohibition for people who already spent six figures on compliance.”

“I did everything the county asked. Metrc, seed to sale, the whole thing,” Delgado said. “Now you want to tell me there’s a headcount? That’s not what we signed up for.”

The numbers tell a complicated story. The county’s Planning Department estimates that four additional retail applications are in various stages of review. If all four receive approval, the total would hit 21, well above the proposed 12-license cap. Under the draft ordinance, existing licensees would be grandfathered in, but no new applications would be accepted until the total drops below the cap through attrition or non-renewal.

Supervisor Michelle Bushnell asked whether the cap would apply uniformly across the county or be distributed by planning area. Planning Director John Ford said the current draft treats unincorporated Humboldt as a single zone.

“So Shelter Cove gets the same treatment as Willow Creek?” Bushnell asked.

Ford said yes.

That distinction matters. The dispensary concentration in southern Humboldt is significantly higher than in the northern and eastern parts of the county, where some communities have no retail cannabis access within a 30-minute drive. A flat cap would freeze that imbalance in place.

Supervisor Steve Madrone, who represents the Fifth District, said he was “sympathetic to the frustration on both sides” but questioned the enforcement mechanism. The county’s code enforcement division is already stretched thin handling complaints about unpermitted cultivation on the hill. Adding retail license monitoring to that workload would require additional staffing.

“We can write whatever number we want into the ordinance,” Madrone said. “The question is whether we can actually manage it.”

The board did not vote Tuesday. Bohn requested a 30-day continuance to allow staff to model a zone-based cap system instead of the flat countywide approach. The item is expected to return at the March 3 meeting.

Outside the chambers, Delgado was blunt. “They’ll study it for another month and then kick it again. Meanwhile, my competitors who haven’t finished permitting get to sit in limbo. That’s the real cost here.”

The board moved on to road maintenance funding. Nobody clapped.