Danville zoning panel declines to recommend permit for third cannabis dispensary; city council still to vote

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Chicago-based MariWorks LLC is seeking to build a 5,000-square-foot cannabis dispensary to be operated under the NuEra brand on this property on Eastgate Drive south of Danville Metal Stamping, as shown from the Lynch Road exit on Interstate 74 in eastern Danville.

DANVILLE — The Danville Planning and Zoning Commission has declined to recommend a special-use permit for a third cannabis dispensary in the city, but the proposal isn't dead yet.

The city council will have the final say June 20. And if the council says no to a permit, city officials could potentially look at a change in the zoning ordinance to open up other potential locations for a cannabis dispensary, according to Community Development Administrator Logan Cronk.

"We’re going to wait until we receive guidance from the council," he said Tuesday.

Last week, the zoning commission voted not to recommend a special-use permit for MariWorks LLC of Chicago, which has been planning to team up with cannabis business NuEra to operate a NuEra dispensary at 500 Eastgate Drive.

MariWorks holds a social-equity license from the state to develop a dispensary in Danville.

Cronk said the city's zoning ordinance doesn't permit a cannabis dispensary within a half-mile of any residential-zoned property, which effectively leaves only the industrial area on the city's eastern edge for potential locations.

There is already a Sunnyside dispensary at 369 Lynch Drive, and Seven Point of Illinois has one planned across the street at 380 Eastgate Drive. Both are along the Lynch Road corridor near Interstate 74.

Laura Jaramillo Bernal, a partner in the MariWorks venture, said MariWorks has an agreement to buy a 7-acre parcel at the south end of Eastgate across the street from the Danville Metal Stamping plant, and would build a 5,000-square-foot dispensary building on it.

"No comment yet, still evaluating next steps," she said after the zoning commission declined to recommend the special-use permit.

Cronk said the council will now need to approve the permit with a supermajority since the commission declined to recommend it.

Any future change in the zoning ordinance to open other locations for dispensaries would also need to go before the commission and then the city council, he said.

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