East Dundee church/school opposes nearby medical marijuana operation

Seventy feet. That's the distance a proposed medical marijuana dispensary would stand outside the boundaries preventing it from being built near Immanuel Lutheran Church and School in East Dundee.

It's still too close for school leaders.

Pending state approval, a roughly 50,000-square-foot growing facility could be built at the northeast corner of Christina Drive and Route 72, and a nearly 5,000-square-foot dispensary could come to the former A Tech Computer Service Inc. building at 296 Williams Place, just south of Haeger Potteries.

The dispensary would sit 1,070 feet from Immanuel Lutheran. State law prohibits medical marijuana dispensaries from locating within 1,000 feet of residential areas or near schools.

"Our concern is it's too close to our school and church," said Chris Wendt, church business manager. "There are inherent dangers with marijuana that we just can't have (near) our school."

The village board last week agreed to amend the zoning code to allow the marijuana operations. At that board meeting, Wendt submitted letters from school and church officials opposing the change.

"We don't have a position on medical marijuana itself. The issue is the dispensary being too close," he said, noting that the church houses a preschool, and 310 students attend its school across Van Buren Street.

"We use the bike path there for our cross country/track practices, walkathon," he said. "We have kids going by this (proposed) marijuana store every day."

Church officials also worry people who might light up outside the facility and drive, he said.

Village President Lael Miller said that while the dispensary's proposed location is tucked away, he has concerns about its proximity to residential areas. He said officials support finding a more suitable location somewhere else in town.

"Some of (residents') concerns are valid and some of them are based on incorrect facts or misperception," he said. "There still seems to be some misperception from some of the public that this is a place where people can just pull up and get high. Most of the byproducts of medical marijuana, you can't even get high on it. This is something that needs to be prescribed by a doctor for medical treatment."

Miller said state regulations require such facilities to take "extreme precautions," such as armed guards and bulletproof windows.

He added the operators of such facilities are applying to numerous towns, and the chances of the operation coming to East Dundee are slim. Still, it could mean a windfall of between $4 million and $6 million for the village in yearly sales tax revenues.

"There's over 350 applications in the state of Illinois. It's not just us," Miller said. "There are some towns that have five different applications. A lot of investors are throwing their hat in the ring."

Officials in some towns, including Carpentersville and Elgin, have said they don't want such facilities.

State law allows for up to 60 dispensaries - of which 13 are targeted for Chicago -­ and up to 22 cultivation sites statewide. Applications must be approved by the departments of public health, agriculture and professional responsibility.

Sam Borek, attorney for Alternative Treatments Ltd., said the company has filed 12 applications for seven cultivation sites and five dispensaries, including those proposed for East Dundee. The state could decide on the applications by mid-December, he said.

"Our aim," he said, "is to get as many approved as we can."

The plan, though, would require a public hearing and final approval by the village board.