Schaumburg grants permit for medical marijuana dispensary
Schaumburg trustees Tuesday approved a special-use permit for the state licensed medical marijuana dispensary intended to serve the entirety of Schaumburg Township.
Chicago-based PharmaCann LLC's Schaumburg dispensary will occupy a 1,412-square-foot industrial park unit at 1135 Tower Road.
Though some enhancements are expected to be made to the building, including installation of a steel-lined vault, that work is expected to be completed long before state-licensed cultivation centers begin supplying the medical marijuana dispensaries in about six months, Schaumburg Planning Services Manager Tom Farace said.
Village planners began working on criteria for the special-use permit about a year ago to ensure that such a business would be an appropriate fit for its surroundings as well as that any and all proposals for the new state-licensed enterprises would be considered fairly by local officials, he added.
Security concerns were a key distinction for such businesses, but satisfied by the assurance that PharmaCann will have a vault for storage of marijuana products as well as hire security guards in addition to its service employees, Farace said.
"That was one of the main items that we looked at," he said. "We knew this would be a very secure place."
Though other potential companies had filed proposals for dispensaries with the village, those rival bids were withdrawn as soon as the state issued PharmaCann the license for Schaumburg Township several weeks ago.
The village of Schaumburg was certainly not the only possible location for such a dispensary in the township, with Elk Grove Village having made similar preparations to receive a proposal from the ultimate holder of the state license.
The possible legalization of medical marijuana in Illinois was regarded as a controversial decision by some municipalities just a couple years ago. But Schaumburg's zoning board of appeals and village board considered the PharmaCann bid in the same way as any other zoning proposal - just as the state demanded, Farace said.