Logan County Board to vote on whether or not to allow marijuana dispensaries

 

[October 11, 2019] 

At the Logan County Board Workshop on Thursday, October 10, the board discussed whether to disallow marijuana dispensaries and hookah lounges in the county.

The Board’s Planning and Zoning Committee has been discussing the issue the past couple of months and decided to bring the issue before the full board to be voted this month.

At the Planning and Zoning Committee Wednesday, October 3, committee member Chuck Ruben said United Council of Counties of Illinois said the county could approve marijuana dispensaries and do nothing (as in, nothing might come of the opportunity), so the county may not need an ordinance. However, the county could lose out if chosen for a dispensary, so it would be best to have a tax ordinance in place.

Board Chairman Emily Davenport said she would like to wait until after the state veto session to decide what to do.

Ruben said he agrees that the board should probably wait until after the veto session since there may be changes to the law. It would probably be June 2020 before there would be a dispensary in the city or county, but that possibility could change with the veto session.

Since the city already voted to allow a dispensary, committee member Dave Blankenship asked whether the county would get taxes from it and if so, what percentage?

Ruben said even if the board votes down a dispensary, Lincoln would pay city and county taxes. The county gets eight percent of what the state collects and can impose a three-and-a-half percent tax. The city would get three percent.

Committee Chairman David Hepler asked if the county could vote down a dispensary and still allow marijuana cultivation.

Logan County Zoning Officer Will D’Andrea said yes, they could.

Blankenship said it seems “counterintuitive” to increase tax revenues through the sale of recreational marijuana while at the same time increasing the law enforcement budget. Those are two opposing forces that will be going against one another, so he asked what gain it is for the county.

With the possibility of tax money being routed to law enforcement and healthcare, committee member Cameron Halpin said he does not think it is counterintuitive.

With or without a dispensary, Ruben said there will be law enforcement problems. He said all the county can gain is a sales tax, so it would be hypocritical not to allow one.

The county already allows cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes, but Ruben said now there is talk about having boutiques with specific varieties.

Board member Bob Sanders said most of the county is conservative, so he does not feel voters would be for a dispensary.

Board member Jim Wessbecher said allowing it could possibly mean more criminal activity and more mental health problems.

Our county is in a 21-county district and dispensary licenses will only be awarded to three townships, so Wessbecher said it feels as if they are “dangling a carrot” to get tax dollars. Wessbecher does not believe the black market will go away either.

Because the state will likely pass a bill allowing recreational marijuana use, Ruben asked whether the others want people buying their marijuana 30 miles away. If people buy the marijuana closer to home, at least they will not be on the road as long.

The marijuana dispensary would be recreational and not medical, so Wessbecher said people would still have to drive out of town to get the medical marijuana.

Wessbecher said he wonders why people would pay a higher price when they are already scraping money together and asked who would take people home if there were rooms where they could go smoke.

For Blankenship, the question is where does it end? He said the side that promotes this activity is already forcing people to subsidize giving needles to drug addicts, so when does it stop?

After asking whether the next step is giving people recreational marijuana, and what else we might legalize down the road, Blankenship said we need to stand up and live our convictions.

Sanders said just because everyone else does it does not mean the county has to.

Secondly, Sanders said we are a second amendment sanctuary county and if you use marijuana, you cannot purchase a gun. He said it seems hypocritical to be a second amendment county and then promote something that could take away that right.

Blankenship said he prefers to appeal to families looking for a county to move to whose government does not support the marijuana culture.

Hepler said the board could wait a couple months to address the issue or do an advisory vote now.

Ruben said it would be good to vote this month whether to allow a dispensary in the county.

Blankenship motioned not to have dispensaries in the county and take it to the full board for a vote.

When the subject of approving hookah lounges came up, Blankenship was the first to respond with a resounding no.

Halpin said he would vote in favor of having a dispensary, but no on having public use space or hookah lounge.

Blankenship motioned to not allow hookah lounges in the county.

Ruben said he thought voting against allowing dispensaries would eliminate hookah lounges too, but D’Andrea said they fall under different areas.

At Thursday’s workshop, Planning and Zoning Committee Chairman David Hepler said that on Tuesday, he would bring forward the motion to disallow marijuana dispensaries in the county.

D’Andrea said it would disallow the dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county. The city of Lincoln could still have the dispensary they have voted to allow.

Hepler’s other motion would be to disallow hookah lounges in the county.

The board will vote on these motions at the Regular Board meeting on Tuesday, October 15.

[Angela Reiners]