Where in suburbs Rauner granted medical marijuana licenses
Illinois medical marijuana dispensaries got the green light Monday when Gov. Bruce Rauner announced the winners of licenses to sell the drug.
Rauner's list of companies doesn't include information about where each dispensary would be located, and some suburban companies have encountered local resistance.
Still, having a license in hand is valuable for a dispensary because only 60 have been handed out statewide. The dispensaries won't open immediately because growers were just licensed Monday, as well.
Letters are going out to winners now, so many are just learning they won.
In Cook County, Nature's Care Company won a license to be in a district that includes Barrington, Hanover and Palatine townships, but Palatine officials have rejected the company's attempts to set up shop.
"The state may have granted their permit, but they have no zoning right to operate in Palatine," Village Manager Reid Ottesen said.
The Palatine village council unanimously rejected Nature's Care's proposal to convert the old Peko Tile building on Colfax Street into a medical marijuana dispensary, citing the facility's limited parking, proximity to residents and potential effect on property values.
Ottesen said the village's rules state a petitioner must wait a year before reapplying for village council approval. He said the only exception to that is if they make a significant change to the land use component of their proposal.
Ottesen said he has not yet investigated the matter, but said he didn't think the state's decision to grant Nature's Care a permit was a significant change that would warrant earlier consideration.
Pharmacann won a license to sell in Elk Grove and Schaumburg townships, and New Age Care won the license for Maine and Wheeling townships.
Pharmacann CEO Teddy Scott says the company is still working on getting a special use permit to operate on Tower Road in Schaumburg.
In DuPage County, Rauner's administration has given licenses to three dispensaries: 3C Compassionate Care Center, EarthMed, and Mindful Illinois.
The founders of 3C Compassionate Care Center hope to open at 1701 Quincy Ave. in Naperville.
In Kane County, the winning companies are Healthway Services of West Illinois and Pharmacann, which could open at 1056 N. Route 59 in Aurora.
Lake County got three licenses, for GTI Clinic Illinois Holdings, PDI III, and Northshore Alternative Therapy.
The GTI location is slated to be in Mundelein, Mike McClain, a state lobbyist involved with the company, said.
"GTI would like to thank Gov. Rauner and his administration for their thoughtful and thorough review of the medical cannabis process, as well as those state agencies that spent countless hours reviewing each application," CEO Ben Kovler said in a statement.
• Daily Herald staff writer Erin Hegarty contributed to this story.