McLean County Times

At its May 1 meeting, Normal Town Council approved two requests for special use permits to operate cannabis dispensaries in its jurisdiction. 

The first was from High Haven who wanted to operate at the old Mandarin House Gardens Chinese restaurant at 106 Mall Drive. It first brought this development proposal to the town back in February, where it was denied based on the issues of traffic and congestion. High Haven brought it back to the board in April with additional parking spaces and plans for traffic control, and the proposal was sent to a second reading for the May meeting. 

Also up for a second reading and approval was a development proposal from Revolution Cannabis to operate at 1609 Northbrook Drive. Its initial request was denied by the Zoning Board in March, so it reworked the plan and brought it back.

“Lots of thoughts on this tonight,” Trustee Kathleen Lorenz said. “I want to begin with making a case for what's right for our town. And I want to note that I believe our ordinance, as it currently is written, it seems to have become out of sync with our community. And by that I mean we do not currently have a maximum or cap on the number of dispensaries that we can have in our community. And I would like to have some update from our legal counsel, if possible, or our city manager, to remind us of how we got here. Why did we not put a cap on it and what has changed in the state rules for issuing licenses. That now leads us to a situation where we have not one, but two and maybe more applicants seemingly to be popping up.”

Normal has received development proposals from cannabis dispensaries for months now, with several businesses looking to compete with Normal’s  existing dispensary on the north side. Each time it comes up, the council meetings are flooded with residents looking to make themselves heard on the subject, and this was no exception. 

Mayor Chris Koos limited the comment session to 30 minutes total, which was taken up by residents who were mostly opposed to additional dispensaries in their community. They cited concerns for safety, exposure to children and families, restricting use of popular retail space, and the amount of cannabis that three dispensaries would bring.

Council members pointed out that they were not, and could not, debate the morality or legality of cannabis as the state legislature approved such dispensaries in 2019 and the council’s job was to discern if the development met the municipality's zoning requirements. The High Haven proposal received unanimous approval with its increased parking spaces, while the Revolution proposal won by a vote of 5-2 in favor.

The council discussed that the ordinance does not have a limit for such businesses within its jurisdiction, something that several council members and residents felt they should rectify. The council will facilitate a discussion to determine an appropriate limit at a later meeting, with Lorenz summarizing the community consensus and future steps for the council. 

“We are a midwestern town, the middle of the Midwest maybe," Lorenz said. "And many people spoke of family values and sort of traditional mainstream values. It's who we are here in the middle of Illinois, in the middle of the Midwest. We need to honor who we are. I really, really think as representatives we need to pay some deference to the appetite that our community has for widespread adoption of this industry. Not casting a rightness or wrongness on it, but it's new. We have no cap. I think that's stretching beyond the current comfort level of our community.”

In other business, council discussed paying approximately $424,750 to Stark Excavating, Inc. for the 2023 sump pump discharge and storm sewer improvements project.

The council will meet again at 7 p.m. on Monday at the City Hall at 11 Uptown Circle.