Schaumburg lowers fee for medical pot dispensary

Schaumburg officials have reduced their recommended annual impact fee for a medical marijuana dispensary from $100,000 to $37,752.

The new recommendation, to be voted on Tuesday, assumes one police call and one paramedic call per week.

Assistant Village Manager Paula Hewson said the smaller amount assumes a lower frequency of calls and excludes the cost of ambulance transport, since patients themselves are already billed for the service.

“That would be recouped by the village,” she said.

The village board had been poised to vote on the original recommendation on Dec. 9, but reconsidered after receiving feedback from dispensary applicants and further analysis of the expected impacts, Hewson said.

Under Illinois' four-year medical marijuana pilot program, there can be no more than 60 licensed dispensaries in the state — and only one in the combined territory of Schaumburg Township and Elk Grove Township.

Nevertheless, the village of Schaumburg alone has received six applications from would-be dispensaries, all of whom are still waiting to learn from the state which one might receive a license. The state was scheduled to award licenses by Jan. 1, but that was delayed indefinitely due to Illinois' changing leadership.

Schaumburg's zoning board will begin to hear and assess each request on the basis of its adherence to the village zoning code, Hewson said.

The village will prorate impact fee amount based on when a dispensary opens. Because applicants said it may take a few years to be as active as they plan to be, the village already intends to review the amount of the impact fee on an annual basis, Hewson said.

Like Schaumburg, Elk Grove Village has received multiple applications from would-be dispensaries contending for the same state license. There, the village is imposing an impact fee that requires $5,000 each to be paid to the village, the police department's Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, and the Kenneth Young Center, which provides mental health and senior support services in the area.

Elk Grove Village originally required another $5,000 be paid to the Alexian Brothers Health System, but its officials said they would not accept the money.

Des Plaines plans to charge a $15,000 annual impact fee and Wheeling a $20,000 annual fee for medical marijuana dispensaries.