Naperville Sets Cannabis Referendum For March 2020 Primaries

NAPERVILLE, IL — Naperville may have chosen to opt out of recreational cannabis sales, but the city is still planning to present a referendum question on the controversial matter. City council members voted 5 to 4 Tuesday to place the question on the upcoming March 17, 2020 primary ballots.

The question will appear on the ballot as follows:

"Shall the city of Naperville, in light of state legislation legalizing the possession, consumption, and sale of recreational adult use cannabis, allow the sale of recreational adult use cannabis within its jurisdiction?"

When city officials voted to opt out of recreational cannabis businesses, many said they were interested in waiting to see how cannabis sales panned out in neighboring communities. The choice to put the question on the March ballot means Naperville won't wait until Nov. 2020 or later to tackle the issue of whether or not cannabis businesses should be permitted within city limits.

More than two dozen people took to the podium during the meeting's public comment portion.

"We feel that we should give the power to the people at the next election cycle," the first speaker, Mark Borowitz said, suggesting that waiting any longer could end up with a conflict of interest for council members who were seeking re-election.

Other speakers pointed out that the longer the council waited to pose the referendum question, the greater the likelihood that available licenses would be gone, should the city favor opting in.

A number of speakers, many sporting bright orange "Opt Out Naperville" shirts, supported waiting until the November election to ensure a larger voter turnout.

After a brief recess, city council members echoed many of the sentiments presented by residents.

Council member Theresa Sullivan said, "The state needs to know by June 2020 if we're going to get taxes to be collected by Sept. 2020. If we hold this over until November, a year from now to ask people this questions, and we sit here and just wait for this tool to figure out what people want, if it is "opt in," we have to wait...until Sept. 2021 to collect any taxes on that."

"This is an extremely divisive issue. We've had name-calling, we've had people with feelings hurt, on down the line. Do we want to go through that for another year? I don't," council member John Krummen said.

Council member Kevin Coyne suggested that recreational cannabis is "not [an issue] to short shrift." He said, "We're talking about an issue of public health that has been raised as a very significant concern."

Coyne, who supported waiting until Nov. 2020 or the 2021 primaries, added, "I don't think it's overstating that, in one way or another, thousands of our residents have voiced concern over it."

Before the vote over whether the question should appear on the March 17 ballot, Coyne presented a motion of substitution to place the issue on the Nov. 2020 ballot. That motion failed, with council members who supported the March ballot opposing the motio.

Ultimately, Coyne was joined by Mayor Steve Chirico, Patty Gustin, and Paul Hinterlong in opposing the March 17, 2020 referendum.