Schaumburg approves second pot dispensary along Golf Road
Schaumburg trustees voted 5-1 Tuesday to approve a second recreational marijuana dispensary in the village. this one located in the former Luna Flooring Gallery building at 820 E. Golf Road, just east of Red Lobster.
In casting his dissenting vote, Trustee George Dunham said he regretted voting last year in favor of the village's regulations allowing recreational pot sellers because they're not as restrictive as he'd hoped.
Though the 9,120-square-foot Enlightened dispensary is the second recreational marijuana business the village board has approved, it is the third proposal to come to the village this year -- all of which have been along Golf Road.
Dunham argued that dispensaries have a clientele that will seek them out and don't require the visibility along Golf Road that other types of business might.
"Golf Road is the premier throughway in the village. It has some of the best shopping that we have," Dunham said. "I don't think Golf Road is an appropriate place for a marijuana dispensary."
No other trustees commented beyond their votes in favor.
Schaumburg Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald has said the proposal meets all legal requirements, including in its security protocols and distance from schools, day care centers, places of worship and other dispensaries.
Chicago-based Revolution Global, which will operate Enlightened dispensary, already runs the medical marijuana dispensary New Age Care in Mount Prospect and a cultivation center in the central Illinois city of Delavan.
Representatives said they hope to open Enlightened by the end of the year, but the timing is dependent on state licensing and local building permits.
Expected to open in the late summer or early fall is Schaumburg's first recreational marijuana dispensary, Sunnyside, at 1739 E. Golf Road in the outlot development Woodfield Gatherings on the north side of Woodfield Mall.
The other proposed dispensary Dunham referred to was for a business called Windy City Cannabis to move into the current Bar Louie restaurant building at the southeast corner of Golf and Meacham roads.
But that proposal was withdrawn over concerns about the rezoning it would have required. It also was at a disadvantage for being too close to the Sunnyside dispensary under current state law.