By Howard Packowitz
NORMAL – Normal is welcoming cannabis-related businesses to town, setting what elected leaders say are strict ground rules and imposing a sales tax when recreational marijuana use becomes legal New Years Day.
The council voted 6-1 for a zoning ordinance keeping dispensaries away from areas near Illinois State University or mobile home parks, and at least 200 feet from single-family homes, and 100 feet from schools, day cares, and churches.
The only exception is The Green Solution, a medical dispensary in north Normal that’s a little less than 100 feet from a church, and is likely to seek permission to run a recreational dispensary there.
Council member Stan Nord was the only no vote after requesting a joint meeting with Bloomington’s council to set uniform zoning rules.
“Say on Vernon and Towanda Avenue, Bloomington-Normal cross right there, if we’re not the same, and one town really doesn’t want something there, and the other one does, we’re going to have some clashes,” said Nord.
Kathleen Lorenz voted with the majority.
“I want to be business friendly, and I want us to be thoughtful about the safety of our community, and I think striking a balance of allowing this to happen, but with the strictest land use regulations and zoning regulations is the way to go,” said Lorenz.
The council unanimously voted to levy the maximum-allowed three percent tax on dispensary sales, but rejected Nord’s attempt to allocate those tax dollars to pay for police and fire pensions.
“This isn’t revenue that we had before, so you think it’s kind of greedy for us to take it to spend it for the general fund purposes when the brunt of the expense and learning curve is going to fall on our emergency services,” Nord said.
No one knows for sure how much tax money Normal will make from marijuana sales. Council member Chemberly Cummings says decisions how to spend the money shouldn’t be made on the fly and should be hashed out during budget discussions.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
