Wheeling backs medical marijuana dispensary
A third medical marijuana retailer has secured Wheeling village board approval to sell the drug to qualified patients, but whether any of the dispensaries eventually opens depends on state regulators.
Midwest Patient Resource Center can set up shop in a nearly 5,000-square-foot vacant building at 2160 Foster Ave., next to a Prospect Heights residential neighborhood - if the business owners get one of the state's new retail licenses.
And that's a big if, officials say. Under the most restrictive rules in the country, the state will allow only one dispensary in Maine and Wheeling townships. The chosen business will have the best score on a points-based application.
The state had pledged to issue those licenses by the end of 2014, but former Gov. Pat Quinn left office Monday without awarding any, raising questions about when licenses might be awarded.
"We're up in the air right now," Village President Dean Argiris said of delays. "We don't know what's going on with them. They were supposed to be approved two months ago."
Just in Wheeling, Midwest Patient Resource Center would have to beat out two others with building plans endorsed by the village board (local approval helps applicants receive better application scores). The other two - called North Shore Patient Relief and Total Health Care, LLC - have eyed industrial buildings on Quail Hollow Drive and Wolf Road, respectively.
If a dispensary wins a state permit to open in Wheeling, its owners will have to pay the village a $20,000 annual impact fee. Taking a page from suburbs like Des Plaines, Wheeling village officials say the money will help recover the costs of policing the site.
Dispensaries must feed real-time, around-the-clock video surveillance to Illinois State Police. Wheeling police also would monitor the footage.
The state heavily judges applicants - many of whom observers say will operate as all-cash businesses - on their security plans. Midwest Patient Resource Center would install 22 cameras, put up bulletproof glass and hire a security guard, according to village documents.
Argiris said he doesn't expect the impact fee to turn off prospective dispensaries. In Schaumburg, trustees were scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss imposing a $100,000 annual fee. Des Plaines alderman have agreed to bill $15,000.
"There's an impact, here," Argiris said. "There's going to be more work, more policing on our part."