A City Council proposal that would give local alderpersons more sway over where cannabis businesses can open was met with resistance Wednesday from industry insiders, who complained it doesn’t give companies more options to set up shop.
Under the ordinance introduced by downtown Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), pot companies would no longer need special-use approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals, a process widely slammed as costly and time-consuming.
Instead, marijuana firms would need approval from the local alderperson and the Zoning Committee, which typically follows unwritten rules giving Council members authority over zoning matters in their wards.
Edie Moore, co-founder of the pot advocacy group Chicago NORML, said the proposal is a “nonstarter” unless it’s amended to allow cannabis firms to open in areas zoned B-3, which covers larger commercial buildings.
“Eliminating the B-3 properties eliminates thousands of available properties on the South and West sides in particular,” said Moore, who recently earned zoning approval to open a dispensary in Boystown.
While Moore insisted that process should be faster and cheaper, she believes the zoning board is still best equipped to hear cannabis zoning appeals.
“I don’t think other aldermen have that in their wheelhouse,” she said.
Hopkins said he merely aimed to give alderpersons more control of their wards.
“We’re the ones who are most responsive, and we’re held accountable,” he said. “We have the accountability without the authority, currently. And that’s an untenable situation.”
Hopkins said the new proposal arose from his push to get a handle on mind-altering hemp products like Delta-8 that aren’t sold in licensed dispensaries.
He agreed the Zoning Board of Appeal’s process takes too long and is too costly, noting that its “bureaucratic hurdles” require dispensaries to hire zoning attorneys and keep them on retainer for months.
He also acknowledged the change he seeks for dispensaries could mean entire wards have no dispensaries. But, he asked, “How is that different than any other zoning question?”
“The aldermen is ultimately the last stop in that process and the one that should be held accountable for the decision being made when it affects the neighborhood like that,” he said. “It shouldn’t be the ZBA. The average resident can’t tell you a single member of the ZBA. They don’t even know what the ZBA is.”
Fellow downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd} supports the attempt to “shift approval of cannabis licenses from the unelected, unaccountable Zoning Board of Appeals” to the Zoning Committee.
“Over the past few years, the Zoning Board of Appeals has approved cannabis licenses across the city, despite strong opposition from the local alderman, community groups and local residents,” Reilly said in an email. “And when the ZBA makes those bad decisions, they cannot be held accountable because they are appointees who serve at the pleasure of the Mayor.”
In 2020, the zoning board approved a recreational marijuana dispensary in River North over strenuous objections from Reilly and his constituents, who raised concerns about traffic, security and a daring $200,000 burglary of a pot shop just days after recreational pot became legal.
He argued on Wednesday that many Chicago neighborhoods, including those in his ward, are “not interested in dispensaries.”
“I believe the people deserve a seat at the table and a strong voice in this process,” Reilly added.
Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), one of the City Council’s leading advocates for cannabis dispensaries, is concerned about any change that would stunt the growth of cannabis revenue and hold marijuana businesses to a higher regulatory standard than places that sell alcohol.
“Alders could decide that they don’t want any cannabis in their ward and find ways to stop it in a way that limits industry and the taxes we would get from that revenue,” said Vasquez.
