The Justice Cannabis Company got approval to open a recreational cannabis dispensary at 676 South Rand Road – the site of a former TGI Friday’s restaurant – after the Village Board gave final approval at its Nov. 1 meeting.
Village officials said the village reached out to all neighboring businesses for feedback on the dispensary opening at that location but received no responses.
However, Sarosh Saher, the village’s community development director, said the Planning and Zoning Commission asked the dispensary owners to scotch the planned butterfly art on the side of the building, prohibit merchandise visibility from the outside and try to control traffic in the area. Saher said the owners were amenable to the requests.
“They’ve agreed to work with staff on all three of these things,” Saher said.
Trustee Mary Beth Euker said she thought the site would be ideal for the business, though she did express concern over traffic flow and asked about traffic studies.
Greg Winter, the owner of the property, said he didn’t think traffic would be a problem since TGI Friday’s was busier than the dispensary could ever be, by law.
“I do think it’s important to note that the TGI Fridays … would have 240 or 250 customers at one time,” Winter said, then explained that the cannabis shop could, by law, have up to 16 customers at a time, depending on staffing levels.
Mitch Zavaduk, the Justice Cannabis Company vice president of the real estate, said the company is eager to comply with the wishes of village leaders. Thus, he said, the company remove the planned butterfly mural and keep the window glass somewhat opaque as to obscure the business inside.
“If it is the wishes of the trustees that we maintain the translucent but not transparent nature of the windows we’d comply with that condition,” he said.
After the board voted, Mayor Tom Poynton welcomed the dispensary to town.
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Jesse Wright is a freelancer.