Montgomery Village Board accepts favorable recommendation on cannabis dispensary permit

Final vote on special use permit request expected April 25

The former BMO Harris Bank at 1970 Caterpillar Drive in Montgomery. (John Etheredge photo - jetheredge@shawmedia.com)

The Montgomery Village Board voted, 5-1, Monday evening, April 11, to accept a favorable recommendation from the village’s Planning and Zoning Commission to issue a special use permit for a proposed cannabis dispensary.

World of Weed LLC is seeking board approval of the permit to open the dispensary in the former BMO Harris Bank at 1970 Caterpillar Drive just east of Orchard Road, south of Route 30.

The Board is expected to cast a final ballot on a motion to issue the permit when they gather for their next regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, April 25 at Village Hall, 200 North River St..

Board member Matt Bauman cast the lone negative vote on the motion to accept the commission’s favorable recommendation during the April 11 meeting.

Before the vote, Sonya Abt, the village’s community development director, told the board the developer’s permit request meets all of the standards for cannabis dispensaries in the village’s zoning code.

Abt said there would be no on-site consumption of cannabis and security measures, including interior and exterior cameras, would be installed.

The Planning and Zoning Commission conducted a public hearing on the permit request April 7 and then voted, 6-0, to approve the advisory recommendation in support of the request.

No village residents attended the hearing to speak either in favor or in opposition to the permit request.

In their application for the permit, the developers noted the the building, about 4,400 square feet, is “well suited for dispensary use as it already has some security infrastructure already in place.”

The application continues: “The point of customer entry/exit will be via a secured entry on the south side of the building. Customers will wait in a waiting area until they enter a sale floor which is segregated and secured from the back of the house, which is where a vault, product storage area, and employee breakroom are located. No cannabis product will be visible from outside of the building.”

The proposed hours of operation for the dispensary would be from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sundays.

The developers do not plan to make significant changes to the exterior of the former bank.

The application adds, “The bulk of the changes will be made to the interior of the building. Further, while the drive-through lanes will remain, the applicant does not intend to utilize them as state law does not permit ‘drive through’ sales of cannabis.”

Abt said that in their review of the permit request that Oswego Fire Protection District officials recommended that the developers not be allowed to use the former bank drive-thru lanes either as a parking or storage area.

The dispensary would be the first of its kind to locate within Kendall County. Currently the nearest dispensaries are in Aurora, Naperville and North Aurora.