Both Brookfield and Riverside appear poised to welcome adult-use recreational cannabis dispensaries, probably later this year, and that will be a welcome source of sales tax revenue for villages always looking for a way to boost that revenue line item as they try to balance annual operating budgets.
In Brookfield, village trustees on May 8 got their first look at a proposal by The 1937 Group to bring a dispensary to the old Bambino’s property at 8863 Ogden Ave., and judging from the reception, it looks like that firm will have a special use permit to operate the dispensary after a vote by the village board on May 22.
Last month, the Brookfield Planning and Zoning Commission gave a unanimous recommendation to approve the special use permit, and trustees didn’t indicate during a presentation at the village board’s May 8 committee of the whole meeting that they have any objections.
In Riverside, not much has been going on in public regarding the possibility of a cannabis dispensary opening at 2704 Harlem Ave. But village officials have confirmed that Star Buds IL has said it will soon submit a plan to build out the vacant building. In Riverside, cannabis dispensaries are allowed by right and require no additional zoning relief as long as the building plans conform to the code.
Those businesses, barring any unforeseen hurdles, ought to be up and running within the calendar year once the villages sign off on the plans. You can expect those to become important destination businesses in those villages and a real boost for economic development.
Troubling silence
On May 1, two Lyons Township High School students were hurt – one of them severely, according to officials – in some sort of targeted attack outside the North Campus.
As far as we know, that student remains hospitalized and we’re hearing rumors of just how severely the student was hurt. There’s also apparently a video circulating, at least among students, which sounds very disturbing.
There’s been an arrest for battery, and our understanding is that police have identified suspects. At some point, hopefully sooner rather than later, school and police officials can clue in the public to exactly what took place on May 1. Is this something that could have been prevented? Where exactly did this take place? On school property or off?
Families are sending their kids to school every day with the faith that they’ll be safe from harm. The lack of information may be having the opposite effect officials are trying to produce.
