The controversial case of a cannabis dispensary that was set to be approved or rejected by Brookfield’s village board on Feb. 9 has had its vote delayed to Feb. 23.
Instead of voting on whether the village should issue a special use permit to allow Prolific Dispensary to open at 9046 31st St., at the corner with Park Avenue, trustees agreed to table the vote for two weeks at the request of the petitioners.
Previous meetings where Brookfield’s village board or planning and zoning commission discussed the case drew crowds of residents to the village’s meeting hall, which is usually only sparsely populated.
At a January meeting, several public commenters raised concerns that the presence of the dispensary, if it is approved, could increase the amount of traffic driving through nearby residential areas or “send the wrong message” to children who live nearby.
Since that meeting, the petitioners said they have completed a traffic study to ensure the dispensary won’t cause an undue burden on the neighborhood.
“We did that just as a precaution. We want to say, ‘Hey, let’s vote.’ The danger was that it could be delayed again. We didn’t want it to get kicked down the road, so we had to be precautionary,” said Tanya Griffin, the CEO and founder of Water + Trees, a business advisory and asset management firm specializing in “high-risk startups,” including several dispensaries.
Water + Trees is representing the Laws family, who would own and operate Prolific Dispensary themselves.
Griffin, who lives in Colorado but is from LaGrange, said little will change concerning the petitioners’ materials heading into the meeting on Feb. 23, but the extra downtime garnered by the delayed vote gives them more time to “get everybody on the same page.”
“We’re trying to work with those individuals who don’t want it in their neighborhood. I wish I could help everyone understand that a vacant building, where they’re shooting out the windows, and there’s a bar next door, is not safe for the neighborhood,” she said. “If you look at the stats on alcohol versus cannabis and the dangers of each, there’s no comparison between these two things. If we allow all of this fearmongering and stigma to continue, we’re not doing a service to our kids in the community. We’ve got to educate.”
The building where Prolific could open has been vacant since 2019. The village board rejected a petition to allow a daycare to open there in 2023 due to concerns over parking and traffic that echo some residents’ feelings now.
Griffin said she felt some of the resistance to the proposal is due to the building’s proximity to a residential neighborhood, as there was less opposition from residents when Brookfield officials in 2023 approved a dispensary along Ogden Avenue, a project that has since failed to materialize.
“When we first met with the village, they were so happy to have us. I was a little blindsided that we had a couple trustees that didn’t want it in their backyard,” she said.
Griffin said she had a bit more warning about the community’s response, as her son and his family live in Brookfield.
“This is not a big community, so I knew that it was going to be a bit of a circus, but we had a strong argument, and we’re really good [team] players, and it’s a lot of revenue to Brookfield,” she said. “If something is new to you, and you don’t really understand it, there’s a lot of fear around it. Cannabis can be scary, and I’m so empathetic to that.”
She said increased transparency is the way to push back against prejudices people may have about cannabis or those who use it.
“Stop shaming these things. It is dangerous for our children. Whether it’s sex or drugs or any of these things, the danger is in the shame. It isn’t in the communication, in the education,” she said. “That’s a hill that is sometimes hard to climb … It’s very difficult to change people’s mindsets if they feel something emotionally.”
