Cannabis Zoning Amendment Temporarily On Hold In Tinley Park

Tinley Park IL

09 September, 2021

2:29 PM

Description

By Jon DePaolis, Richard Free Press: TINLEY PARK, Ill. — Changes to the Village of Tinley Park's zoning ordinance for adult-use cannabis dispensaries are on hold for now. The potential amendment to the zoning code was discussed Tuesday, Sept. 7, during the Board of Trustees meeting. "The proposed text amendments will make minor changes to the zoning regulations for adult-use recreational cannabis dispensaries, including permitting dispensary locations in multitenant structures, removing corridor restrictions, and allowing them as a special use in more zoning districts," Trustee Michael Mueller said. "The Plan Commission held a public hearing on Aug. 5 and voted 5-0 to recommend the proposed text amendments for approval to the Village Board." He also noted that the Village Board held a first reading on the item later in August. However, after that meeting, Community Development Director Kimberly Clarke said staff identified a few areas of concern with the amendment. "First, [there are] references … in there limiting the number of licenses to one," she said. "This is really not a zoning issue but more of Village policy. Having the number of licenses is not necessary in the zoning code. In the event that the Village wanted to modify [the number of licenses] down the road, they would have to amend the zoning code and the Village municipal code." Clarke brought up the possibility of removing the license limit from zoning ordinance, because "you still have the full ability to limit the licenses [in the municipal code]." She said another issue was the language regarding adjacency to residential zoning, particularly concerning the section that states "that the business cannot be located in a dwelling unit or within 100 feet of the property line of a preexisting property zoned or used for residential purposes." "As we dove in a little deeper, and as we are getting a lot more inquiries, a couple of parcels and areas have come up that by looking at it … where some areas or subdivisions have large detention ponds or areas that are for wetlands and are never going to be used for residential," she said. "But the way this code is written, technically, you could not have a dispensary if the shopping center was located [there], because it is at the property line. We do think there are some situations where there is such a large distance that maybe we should take that into consideration." Given the new information, the trustees voted 6-0 to postpone the item to the next meeting. Richard Free Press is a one-stop destination for the news that most affects you, the southwest suburban resident. Be an informed citizen of the town you live in and love.