Officials in Forest Park will consider two applications to establish medical cannabis dispensaries in the west suburban village this month, but the location of at least one of the proposed facilities has raised concerns from some residents.
“There is one building between the proposed site and Circle Bowling Lanes, (which) is a place that is oriented toward families and children,” said Forest Park resident Karen Mcclard, one of several residents who spoke against proposed zoning regulations for medical cannabis facilities at a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting last Thursday.
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At the meeting, the village’s Zoning Board of Appeals voted 5-1 to approve an amendment to the city’s zoning code to allow dispensaries in one business district and two industrial districts. The village board adopted the amendment by a 4-1 vote on Monday night.
The actions don’t guarantee that a dispensary will open in Forest Park but prepare the village for the possibility of one coming to town.
Cultivation centers, where the marijuana is grown, would be allowed in one industrial district, though there is currently no site in the village that would meet the state requirement that the centers not be located within 2,500 feet of schools and residential properties, according to a staff memo.
Mcclard, who lives in a town house near the site of a proposed center at 7228 Circle Ave., said she wasn’t against the use of medical marijuana, but thought that dispensaries should not be located in the business district, which is abutted by residential areas where many families with children live.
“The Illinois statute says that dispensaries cannot be located closer than 1,000 feet to schools and day cares. I believe that there was some intent on the people who wrote the statute to see this as a risk for families and children or that would not have been included,” she said.
Village Administrator Tim Gillian called the proposed zoning amendment “the most cautious approach” to regulate the facilities in the village.
“It will force any applicant to not only appear before the zoning board but also they’d be required to appear before the council,” Gillian said, adding that it would give residents multiple opportunities to speak on the proposals.
Next Monday, the zoning board will consider at least two applications for dispensaries. The village board could then consider the applications as early as Sept. 22, Gillian said.
But even if the village board approves those applications, it would still be up to the state to decide whether to grant the applicants a license to operate the facilities. During a four-year pilot program that went into effect at the beginning of the year, Illinois will award 60 dispensary licenses and up to 22 cultivation center licenses.
“We just see that as a profile that doesn’t fit. Yeah, those corners are zoned for business retail, however, it’s really a small community, a residential community,” said resident Sean Blaylock, who also lives near the proposed Circle Drive dispensary. “The perimeter of this neighborhood is one as a commercial retail district, but you are exposing young kids in that neighborhood to a business profile that may not be appropriate.”
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