Normal Planning Commission approves zoning code changes for dispensaries

Posted on August 11, 2023

*The Normal Town Council is expected to review the changes on August 21. (WJBC file photo)*

NORMAL – Normal is one step closer to changing the zoning codes for cannabis businesses. On Thursday, the Normal Planning Commission voted to approve recommended changes that will double the distance between cannabis businesses and churches, daycares, and schools.

Currently, there are three approved cannabis licenses in the town with one business in operation. If passed by Town Council, the new codes will not impact the three businesses that currently have a license.

The new codes will also require cannabis businesses to be 1,5000 feet from one another. Commissioner Bob Broad was the sole naysayer. He wants evidence to support claims from the community such as cannabis leads to addiction.

“The history in our country of laws around cannabis has fallen especially hard on communities of color. In the view of many analysts, that whole history of suffering and incarceration that followed from a wide view of the devil weed were misguided and uninformed and supported by nothing except fear and possibly, if we want to be honest, racism,” said Broad. “I need to know whether there’s any evidence to support the proposed change to suggest that somehow it’ll improve anyone’s life. Without that evidence, I risk falling into a history in our society that has been profoundly unjust.”

Current Code:

100 feet away from churches, daycare centers, and schools
200 feet away from R-1 zoning districts

Proposed Code:

200 feet away from R-1 zoning districts, churches daycare centers, and schools
1,500 feet between dispensaries and other cannabis business

Council is expected to review the changes on August 21.

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…