A medical marijuana dispensary whose proposal to set up shop in Glenview was rejected by village trustees last month is now suing to open in the north suburb, claiming officials turned them down “arbitrarily, capriciously and unreasonably.”
Glenview trustees voted 4-2 on Oct. 21 to turn down a conditional use permit for Greenleaf Organics at 3240 W. Lake Ave., according to records posted on the village’s website.
The village’s plan commission had unanimously approved Greenleaf’s proposal on Sept. 9 but was rejected before the board “based upon emotion and false criteria,” according to the injunction filed against Glenview by the dispensary on Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court.
In more than two hours of debate at the board meeting, residents and trustees voiced concerns over the dispensary’s potential impact on property values and its roughly quarter-mile proximity to Taniel Varoujan Armenian School, video footage of the meeting shows.
State law prohibits marijuana dispensaries from opening within 1,000 feet of schools but the 100-student, Saturday-only Armenian school does not fall under the village’s definition of a school, the suit claims.
Greenleaf alleges their proposal was shot down without “a formal explanation” specifically related to the criteria of the village’s conditional use zoning regulations, and that no evidence supported claims that the dispensary would attract crime or lower property values.
Glenview officials could not be reached for comment Thursday night.
The injunction seeks immediate approval of village permits for the dispensary, as well as an unspecified amount of money in court costs.
Greenleaf would still need to apply for approval through the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation before it could start selling medical cannabis.
