The effort to bring a cannabis dispensary to Kewanee has received mixed reviews from local residents, with some residents claiming the proposed site is too close to Wethersfield School and is within the 250 feet requirement set by a city ordinance.
But some residents welcome bringing legal cannabis sales to the city, even if they don’t plan to purchase anything at the dispensary.
Others disagree with openly selling a product that, although it’s now legal in Illinois, they feel poses a potential threat to the community.
The Planning Commission voted 6-1 last week to recommend that the City Council approve a special use permit allowing the dispensary in the former Broken Chimney building at 618 Tenney St.
The permit is to be on the agenda of the council’s May 13 meeting.
Several people spoke in opposition to the dispensary project at the commission meeting.
Dr. Andrew Brooks, Wethersfield school superintendent, said 618 Tenney St. is too close to the Wethersfield campus, and could have a negative impact on students. The school has a policy allowing older students to leave the campus for lunch, but Dr. Brooks said that policy might be changed if the dispensary is allowed.
And Stacy Brown of Bridgeway pointed out that the Broken Chimney property borders the property where the Bridgeway facility on East College Street sits. Having cannabis being sold nearby could be bad for Bridgeway clients who have substance abuse problems, she said.
Victor E. Goose, a Facebook page operated by Wethersfield school officials, carried a post from Dr. Brooks urging the Wethersfield community to contact City Council members to express their views about the dispensary.
“While the school district acknowledges the city’s right to approve a cannabis dispensary, we are opposed to the location within 250 feet of the school district property,” the post read.
A city ordinance prohibits a cannabis dispensary within 250 feet of a church or school.
Mayor Gary Moore said this week that Chad Anderson, one of the investors in the company planning the dispensary, measured the distance between the dispensary property and school property and found it to be nearly 300 feet.
A city employee also measured the distance and got the same result, Moore said.
It will be up to the City Council to make the final decision on the permit for the dispensary, and they’ll discuss it at their May 13 meeting.
Moore, who has said he is keeping an open mind on the topic, declined to predict how the vote would go on the permit. But he said he spoke with one council member who was strongly opposed to the measure, and to another who just as strongly supported it.
As for marijuana itself, Moore — a former Kewanee police officer who is on the police staff at Black Hawk College — said he feels the drug is “not a whole lot worse than drinking.”
He noted that businesses closer to the school than the proposed dispensary site sell alcohol, either as package liquor or to drink with meals.
