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WESTERN SPRINGS, IL – Western Springs trustees decided this week to allow the possibility of a medical marijuana dispensary in local commercial districts.
That includes a strip mall, where a village trustee said neighbors would oppose such a shop.
The likelihood of a medical marijuana dispensary opening in Western Springs is low.
Illinois has no medical marijuana-only dispensaries anymore. All the old ones expanded to recreational marijuana after the state’s legalization six years ago.
Western Springs barred recreational marijuana stores, which it has the right to do under state law. Six years ago, voters agreed with that decision.
When the state legalized medical marijuana in 2014, it required towns to pass rules on where they would allow such businesses. Western Springs never did that, only calling for a pause on regulations long ago.
At a Village Board meeting earlier this month, Trustee Phil Nawrocki, who lives in the Ridgewood neighborhood, suggested that medical marijuana shops be limited to downtown and not allowed in the strip mall near his house.
The strip mall is southwest of Wolf Road and 55th Street. It includes a Chinese restaurant, a vape and tobacco shop, a dry cleaner, a nail salon and a gym.
Nawrocki said he would expect opposition from neighbors who believe a dispensary shouldn’t be down the street from kids.
At Monday’s meeting, the village’s attorney, Anne Skrodzki, noted buffer zones between dispensaries and schools, churches and daycares.
“There is no way to adjust a buffer to exclude the 55th and Wolf intersection, but include downtown,” she said. “It’s not an either-or.”
Under the regulations, a medical marijuana dispensary would be allowed, but it’s not automatic.
“Nobody could just move in and open this type of establishment without going through a full, individualized hearing process for that use,” Skrodzki said.
Village President Heidi Rudolph said the probability of such a dispensary coming to Western Springs is “very, very minimal.”
The trustees voted unanimously for the regulations.
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