A new era is coming to Lincolnwood, as marijuana sales will now permitted within the village borders.
At their Sept. 9 village board meeting, trustees unanimously voted to amend the village’s zoning laws allowing for one cannabis dispensary and one infuser, which is a facility that can incorporate cannabis or cannabis concentrate into a product such as brownies or gummies.
Village President Jesal Patel spoke openly of the interest in the estimated $380,000 in municipal tax revenue that could be generated for the Lincolnwood budget that had nearly $22.5 million in general fund revenues in Fiscal Year 2021.
“This is purely about revenue,” Patel said of the decision. “I don’t want to make any misconception, we are looking for the revenue. We are hungry for revenue in this village and we have a lot of revenue needs and we have a lot of challenges in increasing that revenue in line with our expenses.”
The village board and the plan commission have been going back and forth over the last several months over the establishment of a cannabis facility. On Sept. 1, the plan commission voted on a series of recommendations on where a dispensary could be placed.
Afterward, Patel forwarded an alternate plan with possible locations for a dispensary in portions of the northeastern and northwestern sections of the village, as well as on Devon Avenue from Spaulding Avenue west to the Union Pacific right-of-way, which is east of Proesel Avenue.
Patel’s plan did not buffer the distance from any other use, instead targeting primarily commercial locations or areas adjacent to other municipalities such as Chicago or Skokie.
Village board members endorsed Patel’s map.
“It is very clear where you can go; there is no ambiguity,” Trustee Craig Klatzco said.
After some trustee discussion on possibly issuing two licenses with a three-quarter-mile distance requirement between dispensaries, the village board settled on one, for now.
“We are much too small of a community, even with distance restrictions, and we will see how it goes,” Trustee Atour Sargon said.
Endorsing the village’s plan was Adam Zats, whose family operates an auto repair facility on Touhy Avenue. Zats is interested in converting to a dispensary and said he does have an interested party in the cannabis industry who already operates dispensaries in Illinois or other states.
“I think we can all benefit from it,” Zats said.
Arguing against the action was Sayeed Shariff, who said he owns two properties on Devon Avenue and is involved with a nearby mosque.
“I think it is vice and we are going to be attracting people we normally wouldn’t attract to the village,” Shariff said.
Village officials said applications would begin to be accepted for a dispensary Oct. 1.
