Schaumburg approves third pot shop farther west
Schaumburg trustees Tuesday voted 5-1 to approve the village's third and farthest west recreational cannabis dispensary, though only one just north of Woodfield Mall has already opened its doors.
The newly approved dispensary will be operated by PharmaCann under the name Verilife at 150 N. Barrington Road, in the Shops at Schaumburg Court shopping center.
The business will occupy 8,609 square feet north of PetSmart in the shopping center and operate 14 point-of-sale stations. The security arrangements for the store met all village criteria.
Trustee George Dunham cast the dissenting vote. He has voted against all three of the village's dispensaries, being critical of their use of highly visible retail spaces that he said other types of business had greater need of.
Village code requires that pot dispensaries be at least 1,000 feet from any school, day care center or house of worship. Verilife meets that requirement due to its closest point being 1,012.82 square feet from the south lot line of Little Sunshine's Playhouse and Preschool.
PharmaCann previously operated a medical marijuana dispensary in Schaumburg that eventually relocated to Arlington Heights to expand.
The first recreational marijuana dispensary in Schaumburg - Sunnyside - opened last August at 1735 E. Golf Road in an outlot north of Woodfield Mall.
Village trustees voted to approve Schaumburg's second recreational dispensary - Enlightened - in late July but it hasn't yet opened. Located in the former Luna Flooring Gallery building at 820 E. Golf Road, just east of Red Lobster, Enlightened is expected to get its state approval to open within the next few weeks.
Schaumburg Community Development Director Julie Fitzgerald said Enlightened was originally approved with a requirement for a shared parking agreement with its neighbors. When such an agreement couldn't be reached, village officials determined it wasn't necessary and formally withdrew the requirement.
Schaumburg also received a proposal last year for a Windy City Cannabis dispensary to be located in the former Bar Louis restaurant at the southeast corner of Golf and Meacham roads. But the proposal was withdrawn before it reached the village board and would have been too close to Sunnyside anyway under existing regulations.
A new Charles Schwab financial services branch was approved last month to replace the Bar Louie building.