Brookfield village trustees are expected to take a final vote on June 22 that will determine whether applicants can proceed with their plan to bring a cannabis dispensary to the corner of Ogden Avenue and Dubois Boulevard.
Trustees at their committee of the whole meeting on Monday, June 8, agreed to put the application for a special use permit, which is required to open a dispensary anywhere in Brookfield, up to a vote at their next regular meeting.
The decision followed a presentation from Tanya Griffin, whose consulting firm Water + Trees was unsuccessful in bringing a cannabis shop to the corner of 31st Street and Park Avenue earlier this year. Griffin has now partnered with IC Collective, a cannabis grower based in Illinois, to bring its first ever vertically integrated dispensary to Brookfield.
Griffin emphasized, as she did when presenting her case to Brookfield’s planning and zoning commission in May, that the project will involve redeveloping the unused parcels at 9500-08 Ogden Ave., putting in 18 parking spots and revitalizing the dilapidated building with raised roofs and a more modern exterior facade.
“It’s super important to me, as it is to Jordan [Levinson, owner of IC Collective], to be your neighborhood dispensary. That means that we’re not only serving the residents of Brookfield, but we are opening our doors to LaGrange, for example, and bringing that business to the community,” Griffin said.
At that meeting on May 28 meeting, commissioners criticized the existing architectural design for feeling closed off. Griffin made mention at the June 8 meeting of incorporating more windows into the facade, including along Dubois Boulevard. She said she would work closely with village staff to finalize an exterior design, with hopes to put branded signage on two opposing sides of the building.
Trustees asked whether the business would make use of the northerly alley to assist ingress and egress from the parking lot due to traffic on Ogden Avenue making left turns in or out difficult. If so, traffic would likely be directed east to Dubois Boulevard, where a stoplight controls traffic heading onto Ogden.
“They have the legal right to access the alley, as any business does,” Village Manager Tim Wiberg said. He said no discussions have been held involving village staff regarding possibly paving the alleyway.
During Griffin’s presentation, Trustee Kit Ketchmark asked whether notices had been sent out to nearby residences and businesses about the plans for the dispensary, as there was no signed affidavit included in the board’s agenda packet for the meeting.
While Griffin answered affirmatively, members of the audience who later identified themselves as neighbors to the parcel in question shook their heads, and several gave public comment asserting they did not receive notices ahead of the meeting.
Resident Vicky Carathanassis, who lives on Dubois Boulevard, said she felt the immediate community of residents surrounding the proposed location was not given the chance to provide input on the plans for the site.
“I remember all the visioning meetings we had for this location. Brookfield asked residents what they wanted to see here, and they overwhelmingly voiced a desire for a grocery store, a daycare, a coffee shop, even, or mixed-use retail and homes,” she said.
Carathanassis, a Lutheran minister, said she felt compelled by her profession to speak up for her neighbors, many of whom could not attend the 6:30 p.m. meeting due to work schedules.
“We will be facing more traffic, more speeding, more loud noise from the building, reduced parking. Our property values are projected to decrease from this, and yet, not a single plan is in place to return anything to this area in exchange,” she said. “It’s no secret that the southwest side of Brookfield has higher concentrations of people of color, immigrants and blue-collar workers than any other area of Brookfield does. Every single household on that street fits into one of those boxes.”
Chris DiBraccio, who owns and operates Imperial Oak Brewing and whose family lives in an apartment above the business, said he, too, did not receive notice of the meeting from the village or the petitioner. He called the proposal “incredibly short-sighted” and maligned what he perceived as a lack of village resources being invested into the area.
