Hemp farm coming to West Salem, residents organize opposition

Updated Wednesday 1:30 p.m. with additional details.

A hemp farm is coming to West Salem, and the neighbors aren't happy. 

West Salem residents met at a neighborhood meeting Monday night to oppose hemp cultivation on 77 acres being cleared at the end of Glen Creek Road. It's been leased to hemp growers who plan to begin planting this year. 

Hemp can be mistaken for marijuana, since it looks and smells the same. But hemp contains less than 0.3% of the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, THC — not enough to get users high. 

The plant's main draw is CBD, another compound in the plant that's exploded in popularity in recent years. The extracted oil is said to relieve pain and reduce anxiety and depression. 

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Growing demand for hemp is what drew developer Jerry Reeves to the idea.

He has been unable to make money on the parcel since he bought it in 1995. The land is in a unique jurisdictional situation: inside Salem's city limits but outside of the city's  Urban Growth Boundary. It's zoned for exclusive farm use.

Reeves has spent years failing in the fight to move the growth boundary so he can develop homes. Forced to farm, he's turned to a market where he can make some money leasing the land to the hemp growers. 

But for those who live close to the farm, there is a lot at stake: their homes.

About 50-70 West Salem homes receive their water from ground wells that draw from an oddly perched aquifer of fractured basalt.

No one is certain how much groundwater it holds, but if the hemp farm depletes the aquifer, the residents have no other water source.

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Ground water supply undocumented

Orchard Heights Water Association doesn't have the capacity to reach the residents, and it would cost the city $4 million to $6 million to build a reservoir and pump system, an unlikely scenario for such a small group.

Tim Gerling, a West Salem resident and former public works director for the city, says 70 acres of hemp could potentially deplete the aquifer and force residents to leave their homes.

Hemp needs a significant amount of water to grow. Reeves says the farm would use drip irrigation to cut down usage.

"We need to look at the potential, not what he claims he's going to use," said Gerling, who found out about the farm two weeks ago when he saw a commercial well being drilled on the undeveloped parcel near his home. "My well is 600 feet from his."

Residents are also worried about the smell. Nearing harvest season, hemp farms are said to smell like a dozen dead skunks, with the odor reaching up to a mile downwind. 

But Reeves insists the farm is going to move forward regardless of concerns. 

"The smell is protected by the State of Oregon," he said to neighbors at the meeting.

Hemp is an agricultural commodity regulated by the state, and a booming industry. It expanded even more after the plant was legalized nationwide last year. 

The number of registered hemp growers more than tripled in the past year, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture. As of July 8, there were 54,940 acres of hemp approved to plant throughout the state.

These include the acres behind Glen Creek. 

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Exclusive farm use protected

Residents at the neighborhood association meeting — who came out in two to three times their normal numbers — wanted to know why they weren't notified. But the developers have the right to plant any crop they want on farmland. 

"But just because you have a right to farm doesn't mean you have a right to trash your neighbors," Gerling said.

City Councilor Jim Lewis said this really is a failure of counties and cities to work together to move the Urban Growth Boundary. Oregon has a rigid system to protect agricultural land. 

"I personally don't think there should be large hemp farms in proximity to city limits. I think we have enough land in Oregon to do farming, especially sensitive farming, outside the city areas," Lewis said. "But again, this guy is stuck with nothing left for him to do."

Gerling says the neighbors are still getting organized and have hired an attorney to start looking at legal options. 

Currently, Reeves has not filed for water rights, which is required for a commercial well. 

When evaluating an application for a water right, the Oregon Department of Water Resources will consider if it will injure other users and involve the public in the process. Domestic wells do not have water rights, but their "exempt use" status carries the same weight as a water right.

Gerling says the department doesn't monitor water usage after a commercial well is drilled, but could be forced to monitor it with a valid reason. If they determine a newer groundwater right is interfering with an older groundwater right, the department would step in and give priority to the domestic wells.

“This has just been a financial nightmare for me to figure out what to do with this property," Reeves said. "And now if we’re going to be attacked for trying to grow a legal crop in the state of Oregon, when they’ve got us on (exclusive farm use) zoned land — it’s just crazy."

Reach Samantha Hawkins at shawkins@gannett.com or 503-798-1623.