April 23, 2024
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Ottawa council approves zoning guidelines for cannabis testing facilities

Developer reached out to the city about buying property to test marijuana

By Michael Urbanec

In this June 4, 2014, file photo, chief scientist for Analytical 360, Randall Oliver, scales out a sample of marijuana at their new cannabis analysis laboratory in Yakima, Wash. A business contacted Ottawa officials about possibly buying property and starting a marijuana testing facility within the city. (Mason Trinca)

When Steep Hill Illinois’ John Tinsley approached the Ottawa Plan Commission a couple of weeks ago, it came to the city’s attention the city didn’t have a plan in place for a cannabis testing facility.

Mayor Dan Aussem said it was thought the city handled how cannabis facilities would need to be zoned the first time around, but a testing facility didn’t come up in the planning stages.

The new ordinance passed allows a cannabis testing facility to open in zoning districts D, which are districts set aside for office, research and light industrial functions; E, which is an industrial distrct; and C-3, C-4, and C-5, which are all business districts.

“We had a developer reach out to us to ask about purchasing a piece of property to test marijuana,” Aussem said. “From my understanding, it’s to test for foreign particulates from fertilizer or contaminates in the product. It really didn’t fit in our zoning rules. It’s not a retail sales thing.”

Cannabis testing facilities are high-security facilities used to test the quality and safety of cannabis products, and all cannabis tested in these facilities is destroyed afterward.

Steep Hill is a potency, safety screening and research and development company that already has facilities in Alaska, California, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

Ottawa already is home to a marijuana dispensary at 4104 Columbus St.