Crystal Lake could be home to two marijuana dispensaries once again as another company looks to take over the shuttered Spark’d location nine months after it abruptly closed.

A new dispensary called Silver Jade is looking to operate out of the building at 330 N. Route 31 where the Spark’d dispensary used to be. Spark’d abruptly closed in December after operating for about a year.

Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning commissioners last week unanimously approved a special use permit to operate a dispensary at that location. The Crystal Lake City Council is expected to vote on the matter on Sept. 16. If passes, Silver Jade will be the second marijuana dispensary in Crystal Lake, joining Ivy Hall.

The building is still owned by a group called 330N LLC that includes real estate agent Tony Bellino and 280E LLC, a corporation owned by Bryan and Zachary Zises. The Ziseses are also owners of Dispensary 33, the Spark’d Richmond location, and owned the former Crystal Lake Spark’d store.

Zachary Zises told the Northwest Herald last year that the Crystal Lake Spark’d location closed because it was not profitable, “so the owner needed to find a different path.” Bellino pointed to conflicting ideas between owners and management.

Silver Jade is a new company that was one of 35 entities to win a state Conditional Adult Use Dispensing Organization License in the Social Equity Criteria Lottery in 2023, according to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

Omar Fakhouri of Mint Cannabis represented Silver Jade at the planning and zoning meeting as a “consultant.” Mint Cannabis is a dispensary chain with locations across the country including Michigan, Arizona, Nevada and Missouri. There is one Illinois location in Willowbrook, which Fakhouri owns, he said.

Since a marijuana dispensary already operated out of the same Crystal Lake location, commissioners were receptive to the new business coming in, as long as owners comply with all of the city’s conditions.

Purrfect Cat Rescue owner Deb Parquette raised concerns about smells and smoking around her young volunteers. The shelter is near the dispensary building and the two share a parking lot.

“I would go home some evenings, and my vehicle would smell like pot,” she said. “As far as I’m concerned, there shouldn’t be that smell because they’re not allowed to partake in that on the property.”

City police “had numerous interactions with the former management,” City Planner Elizabeth Maxwell said. The city issued a notice of violation to the Spark’d dispensary after it held an event without the proper special permits.

One of the city’s requirements prohibits on-site marijuana consumption. Fakhouri assured that operators have “zero tolerance” for consumption on-site.