Elk Grove Village to get its first recreational marijuana dispensary

A little more than a year after trustees voted to allow recreational marijuana sales in town, Elk Grove Village is set to get its first dispensary, officials confirmed this week.

Village officials said the operator is eyeing a location within the sprawling east-side industrial park - the only place pot shops are allowed, under zoning regulations the village board put in place in April 2021.

The shops are prohibited in the west-side residential section of town or its nearby shopping centers, per the rules.

Mayor Craig Johnson said the business operator - whose name was not disclosed - reached out to him four months ago to express interest in coming to Elk Grove. But conversations with the mayor and village staff only ramped up after a judge in May lifted a stay that initially prevented the state from releasing new dispensary licenses.

The prospective operator in Elk Grove is among 185 applicants poised to receive a dispensing organization license, which would more than double the number of recreational marijuana dispensaries in Illinois.

On Friday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued conditional licenses to 149 of those applicants, after state regulators completed initial checks into business ownership.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation had to verify that all principal officers are not delinquent in taxes or owe money to the state, and none can have a financial interest in more than 10 dispensaries.

Before those businesses get their final licenses, the state will conduct background checks on the business owners, who will have 180 days to find a physical storefront location.

In Elk Grove, the mayor said the business owner is buying a building in an "ideal" location in the industrial park. It would be the business's first dispensary.

"It should do well where they're going," he said.

Officials estimate the dispensary could mean $400,000 to $600,000 in tax revenue for village coffers.

The village board doesn't have to vote to approve the new dispensary, but the business has to meet the local licensing regulations the board approved last year.

Village officials say they've had discussions with those interested in opening dispensaries since the statewide legalization in 2019, but the latest contact represents the first bona fide proposal.

Elk Grove already is home to Illinois Grown Medicine, a 12,000-square-foot marijuana cultivation facility that opened on Greenleaf Avenue in 2016.