EAST PEORIA, Ill. — The East Peoria City Council Tuesday night discussed a first reading for a location in the city to sell recreational cannabis.
Commissioner Mark Hill said the law allows current existing medical cannabis dispensaries the opportunity to apply for a license to sell recreational cannabis.
NuMed, located at 504 Riverside Dr., is a medical cannabis dispensary.
Since NuMed was granted a recreational cannabis license from Illinois prior to the end of 2019, the facility was able to begin selling recreational cannabis on January 1, 2020 without East Peoria’s approval.
With recreational cannabis legalized, Hill said the city is following the law.
“We are responding with our ordinances,” Hill said.
Another ordinance that was discussed at Tuesday night’s meeting, was another first reading for an adult use recreational cannabis infuser and craft grower operation at 3201 N. Main St.
“And those are two different licenses. But, the conditional use in that particular case was, they want a craft grower and an infuser,” Hill said.
However, the building does not meet the requirement of being at least 1,000 feet away from a day care facility or child care business.
“This particular business, it’s just short of that,” Hill said. “The propriater is looking at trying to use the back area of his business if he can.”
The current business at at 3201 N. Main St., Sorce Enterprises, would have to demolish and separate the building, and the building that would sell recreational cannabis would need to meet the distance restriction, according to Hill.
If the items do get approved at a later meeting, that does not mean either location will be selling recreational cannabis soon.
“Until they actually get a license from the state, one of the requirements for the application was to have an approved location for the businesses prior to the application,” Hill said.
