Divided City Council Decides Against Public Hearing On Cannabis

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — With less than five months before cannabis can be legally purchased and consumed by people 21 and over in Illinois, a divided Highland Park City Council decided against holding public hearings to evaluate where and how the city might allow recreational marijuana to be sold. At an Aug. 12 special committee of the whole meeting, four opponents of considering zoning changes to allow for new dispensaries voiced concerns about whether new, mostly cash-based businesses could operate safely, opting for a "wait and see" approach. But three supporters of going through with the hearing process pointed out the council would be driving residents and businesses to spend money elsewhere.

Mayor Nancy Rotering and three councilmembers — Adam Stolberg, Dan Kaufman and Tony Blumberg — expressed varying degrees of opposition to allowing recreational cannabis dispensaries within the city, while the remaining members of the City Council — Michelle Holleman, Alyssa Knobel and Kim Stone — said they would support it.

Although the vote was informal, the opinion expressed by majority means it will be practically impossible for a business to open up in town on Jan. 1 when the first early approval licensees can begin selling recreational cannabis to adults in Illinois.

Under the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker last month, only entities with existing medical marijuana permits are allowed to operate for the first year of legalization. Home rule communities have the option of limiting or banning recreational dispensaries, which they can tax at up to 3 percent of total sales. Business in unincorporated areas can be taxed at up to 5 percent under the bill.

Rotering said she supported the criminal justice reform aspects of marijuana legalization in Illinois, but said there were still too many unknowns to allow commercial cannabis establishments in Highland Park. She suggested it would be better to allow other communities to work out the details.

"I'm curious to see what happens, and not necessarily here right out of the gate," Rotering said. "It's still, I think, an emerging industry and I'd like to see some of the kinks worked out before we move forward."

Blumberg also said he was generally in favor of cannabis legalization, but he said he was not ready to allow it to be sold in Highland Park without more data.

"It's just not clear to me what the problems are and I think we have an opportunity to see this as it develops around our state," Blumberg said. "Let's see what happens in Northbrook or Deerfield or other areas in the surrounding community, I think [it] could yield some useful information."

Knobel said she had heard from residents and business who support bringing visitors and commerce to town.

"Businesses are asking for it because they believed it will bring feet on the street, who may be coming here to buy recreational cannabis, but you will also stop — and not to do a pun on this — but you'll stop and eat and do other things in Highland Park after you come here. We would become a destination for it," Knobel said, suggesting the city would be better off exerting some control over where and how recreational cannabis is being sold in the area.

"The number one issue that our residents have when they come to me with something that they want to complain about in Highland Park is business development," she said. "I'd like to give this industry that chance to — no pun intended — grow here."

Stolberg saw no reason to allow recreational cannabis other than tax money, which was not a good enough reason to allow it, he said.

"I'm not really seeing the benefit to allowing it. I'm not ultimately opposed to it forever," he said. "We take pride in being a leader in Highland Park. If this is something a year down the road that we see other communities are doing and it's something we feel we're missing the boat on, I think we have the ability to allow that or to change our regulation."

Holleman said it seemed like opponents of regulating recreational cannabis sale in the city were having trouble wrapping their head around something that had been illegal for so long and was about to be legalized. She said there had apprehension about allowing medical cannabis business in town, but it ended up having no negative impact and spurred investment instead.

"People are going to buy this somewhere. If they're driving to Lincolnwood, then they're going to have dinner at [Skokie steakhouse] EJ's Place, they're going to stop and do something somewhere else, and this is our opportunity to have people come as a convenience for our residents who do want this," Holleman said. "We don't prevent people from buying liquor in our community. This is just a different way, and we're just not used to it at this point."

Kaufman said he had given the issue a great deal of thought and discussed it with residents across the political spectrum. Unlike Knobel, he said constituents with whom he had discussed it had strong views against allowing a recreational dispensary. He agreed with Stolberg that tax revenue alone was not a good enough reason to allow it.

"The potential detriments outweigh the benefits at this point, at least the perceived and known benefits. We've got potential detriments in terms of safety and health issues and law enforcement issues and extra burden to the city in terms of costs and time of administrative enforcement. So I think that this is new, the jury's out on it," he said. "We can see how it goes with other communities."

Stone said a major reason for cannabis legalization was to siphon business from dangerous illicit drug dealers and offer consumers more safety and quality control.

"I think if we don't allow dispensaries, we don't help move things in that direction," she said.

Corporation Counsel Steve Elrod said it was possible the City Council would not need to take any further steps to block recreational cannabis sales, given that it passed a "red flag" resolution in July to notify anyone considering opening a dispensary that it would not currently be allowed under city zoning.

Nonetheless, Elrod said city staff would double check whether the City Council should approve a resolution explicitly banning recreational cannabis businesses "to determine whether you need to do that to prevent it from being interpreted as a permitted use. I don't think anyone can but I just want to close even that possibility."

According to city and village officials among Highland Park's neighbors, the Northbrook Plan Commission is holding a meeting Tuesday to discuss permitting requirements, with trustees expressing interest in approving a dispensary. The Plan Commission in Deerfield, where trustees have also suggested they are open to a dispensary, is scheduled to consider regulations on Thursday.

The Lake Forest Plan Commission will hold a public hearing Sept. 11, but the City Council signaled it would support an outright ban on the business. The Glencoe Village Board will discuss potential local regulations at a Committee of the Whole meeting in September, with a public hearing before its zoning commission as early as October. The Highwood Planning and Zoning Commission plans to take up the issue but has not yet scheduled a meeting to do so.

Other north suburban communities, including Evanston, Skokie, Lincolnwood and Park City, have signaled they would be ready to allow recreational sales starting in January.

UPDATE: Highland Park Reconsiders Ban On Recreational Cannabis Stores

Highland Park has one operational medical dispensary, Elevele, which received a special use permit to operate at 1460 Old Skokie Road in 2016. An attorney for the dispensary notified city staff in June that an entity it controlled, ADH DISP Holdings I LLC, planned to apply for a special use permit to allow it to relocate and expand its medical facility to 260 Skokie Valley Road. It was not immediately clear if Elevele intends to take advantage of its opportunity for an early approval adult use license or where it might be located, and representatives have yet to respond to a request for comment. (It will be added if they do.)

Elevele is co-owned by three Lake Forest residents — Andy and Veronica Hunt own 97 percent and William Riley owns the remaining 3 percent. In March, they agreed to sell the business to the Tempe, Arizona-based Harvest Enterprises, LLC for $14 million. Following the passage of cannabis legalization, Elevele sued Harvest in federal court in Chicago for breaching the terms of the purchase agreement by acquiring the rights to too many licenses, and two days later, Harvest counter-sued in Arizona.

Related:

• Legal Weed: Who Can Buy, Sell, Use Marijuana Next Year In Illinois?
• Illinois Recreational Marijuana Legalization Bill Signed Into Law
• Highland Park Marijuana Dispensary Sues To Escape Sale Contract