Regulators have approved a controversial cannabis dispensary project for Chicago’s Streeterville neighborhood, despite rejection recommended by the city’s zoning administrator. Opponents say it’s too close to a school and will delay emergency vehicles.
The venture was approved by a 3-2 vote of the Zoning Board of Appeals, including a vote in favor of former Ald. Helen Shiller, whose son helped the company obtain a license but was not involved in the zoning matter.
The company’s consultants said the school in dispute was primarily a day care center and that, like any other retailer, the store would not cause major disruption.
“The hysteria (about cannabis store problems) that might have existed 10 years ago just hasn’t materialized,” said dispensary attorney Jim Banks. “There is no evidence of an impact on increased crime, traffic or property values.”
The city’s zoning administrator for the Department of Planning and Development had ruled that the school was within 500 feet of the Guidepost Montessori at Magnificent Mile, at 226 E. Illinois St.
A parent testified at the hearing in September and the facility provided a letter saying it provided education to elementary school students, in addition to being a daycare.
Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, opposed the dispensary location, citing concerns about traffic, lack of parking and the fact that the city required a nearby liquor store to obtain special permission to obtain a permitted since it was close to the school.
The facility is licensed as a daycare but not a school, Banks said. Although the law does not require a study permit, its main purpose is to serve as a daycare, he argued.
The site at 620 N. Fairbanks Court, which becomes Columbus Drive to the south, is close to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Lurie Children’s Hospital. There is no legal street parking, but residents fear customers will park on the street and block traffic, including ambulances.
A traffic engineer for the dispensary said his studies showed the business would not cause significant traffic disruptions and that customers could park in nearby lots.
The dispensary would be the first in Streeterville, located just outside the area where such stores are banned, along the Magnificent Mile and at Navy Pier.
Residents also complained that dispensary representatives were circulating flyers and sending postcards and text messages promoting the business, in violation of state law.
GP Green House LLC does business as Garanti Dispensary, which has two stores in Ohio. It is partly owned by CEO Aymin Haswah, who co-founded Garantie Pharma in 2018, according to his LinkedIn page. He also owned Spirits Beverage Center in Chicago and PCW Cellular, which boasted more than $1 billion in wholesale cell phone sales.
He invested millions of dollars building a home in Burr Ridge that he put on the market this summer for $6.2 million, after moving out of state, according to a report from The Real Deal.
Former 6th Ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer testified on Haswah’s behalf, saying that as the owner of the liquor store, Haswah was very responsible and responsive in resolving problems.
“These gentlemen always go above and beyond what they are supposed to do,” he said.
Haswah’s partner, Ahman Shaban, described the business as social ownership. The state’s designation gives licensing and funding preference to people with prior low-level cannabis arrests, or who come from areas of poverty or with high cannabis arrest rates.
Residents circulated a petition to ban the sale of cannabis in the neighborhood, but failed to gather enough signatures. They obtained some 800 signatures for an online campaign petition to oppose the dispensary at change.org.
Cannabis remains illegal at the federal level, but it is legal for licensed dealers under state law. The state issued a conditional license for the guaranteed dispensary.
The owners are planning a major renovation of the site, which was long the West Egg Cafe, located next to the Timothy O’Toole sports bar.
Consultants expect hundreds of customers a day and expect most to come from the neighborhood and spend only about five minutes each in the store.
Deborah Gershbein, president of the Organization of Streeterville Active Residents, or SOAR, called Shiller’s vote “a major conflict of interest.”
The residents’ group considered filing a lawsuit to challenge the location near the school, but it costs too much, Gershbein said. They could instead challenge cases at the state level, she said.
“School is the biggest problem,” she said. “I would not want my children to be exposed to a cannabis dispensary. It’s considered a school for its liquor license, so why wouldn’t it be for its cannabis license? »
The smell of smoked marijuana has become common on Chicago’s streets, Gershbein said, adding that the city has a responsibility to enforce the law banning smoking in cars and in public.
For their part, owners of licensed cannabis businesses have long complained that Chicago’s zoning laws make it too difficult to find a place to operate in the city and that getting approval takes too time-consuming and too expensive.
When Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Brian Sanchez asked Shiller if she could be impartial, she said yes.
She had recused herself from another, unrelated case, but said she had no conflict in that case because her son, attorney Brendan Shiller, had worked on the dispensary’s state license, but not on anything related to the city zoning issue before them.
The question board members grappled with was whether the Montessori facility qualified as a school under the zoning code definition, which refers to meeting state curriculum guidelines .
“We talked about both sides of the issue,” Shiller said. “It wasn’t a clear decision. The city ordinance contains language for a school that does not suit them. We had to find what made sense. »
