Bartlett approves gas station with marijuana dispensary, coffee shop as additional tenants at former CVS

Despite concerns from neighboring businesses about increased traffic, Bartlett trustees have agreed to allow a former CVS pharmacy to be converted into a Lindy’s gas station, with a marijuana dispensary and coffee shop as additional tenants.

Village trustees voted 4-2 on Tuesday to approve the redevelopment at the southeast corner of Route 59 and Army Trail Road.

The current plan includes a Mindfully Planted marijuana dispensary. But whether that business receives the state license it needs to open in Bartlett largely may hinge on the outcome of an earlier application for another dispensary proposed for the same intersection.

Illinois law prohibits marijuana businesses from being within 1,500 feet of each other. Normally, only the earlier successful applicant gets the license unless a rare exception is identified.

Good Behavior Bartlett, which wants to open at the northeast corner of Route 59 and Army Trail Road, applied last month for both recreational and medical marijuana licenses.

Mindfully Planted needed the zoning approval from Bartlett before it could submit its application to the state for a recreational license.

Either proposed business could become Bartlett’s first dispensary.

The former CVS building that will be converted is 12,735 square feet. The new gas station will have a convenience store and a quick-service restaurant with a video gambling room.

The 3,007-square-foot coffee shop will have its own video gambling room and use an existing drive-through for pickups of prepaid orders. Mindfully Planted will occupy the building’s remaining 2,776 square feet.

Representatives for the Bartlett Square shopping center to the east, including the adjacent Army Trail Animal Hospital, raised concerns this week about traffic, parking and visibility.

The concerns included the possibility of gas pumps in front blocking the view of Bartlett Square from the intersection.

Shopping center tenants also worry that customers using the gas station and its accessory businesses will cross their property for better road access.

But village planning staff said the plan calls for the gas station’s access points on Route 59 and Army Trail Road to be sufficient for the property’s needs. The developer is requiring fuel trucks to deliver during off-peak hours between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Nevertheless, the concerns raised led trustees Renee Suwanski and Raymond Deyne to vote against the project.

“I just believe there’s too much congestion with this current plan,” Deyne said. “They’re just trying to cram too much into that area.”

epeterson@dailyherald.com