Dana Sinn Olson I am asking the Council and Staff of the City of Peoria to review and consider reversing its decision to support the location of a marijuana dispensary at 3611 W Willow Knolls Drive in Peoria. Although a zoning rule of 1,000 feet from a school was technically met, there are hundreds of children living and being transported in the immediate area. We have 2 kids ages 9 and 12. The apartment building in the backyard of the proposed marijuana shop has many children of all ages. Next to the apartment building is a family of 6 - and next to them a family of 5. CUSD 323 (Dunlap) buses hundreds of students thru this intersection twice every day. The apartment buildings adjacent to the proposed site house hundreds of families. Many families cross this intersection twice daily to take their kids to Peoria Academy and PALS daycare. There is a new high school being built in the neighborhood right now for Notre Dame. There is a church across the street from the proposed location where families gather for worship and children are invited from all areas for festivals and holiday celebrations. The property is technically zoned commercial but this is a residential neighborhood. Our neighborhood cannot tolerate the ambiance that armed vehicles and 24 hour security guards will impose. The commerce in our neighborhood enjoys small and family owned business and a low crime rate and a friendly inviting environment. The proposed location does not have its own entrance to the street and does not have enough parking to accommodate the flow of traffic that a reasonable business person would calculate to be required for a marginal return on investment. This business operation requires a heavy capital outlay ($400,000 cash at a minimum) by the State of IL to apply and operate a medical marijuana facility. In addition to the state of IL requirements, the building will have to be purchased and employees hired and inventory produced. The applicant has acknowledged the lack of parking and spoken of expanding parking into the back of the building. I looked into this idea. The park district has rejected millions of dollars in offers for their land in the recent past. Senior members of the park district have indicated to me that it is not possible that the park district would sell the land behind this building for additional parking - especially in light of the fact that there is a green directly behind the building. We cannot accommodate an influx of traffic in our neighborhood. Illinois application process opened on Sep. 2, 2014. By Friday, Sep. 5, more than 2,000 had people begun the application process to register for a medical cannabis identification card through the Illinois Department of Public Health. The State of IL is reporting that this number has continued to grow. Our neighborhood and our roads will not accommodate the heavy volume of buyers that the state and others are predicting. Willow Knolls Road is a 2 lane city road. Radnor Road is a 2 lane county road. The area is a heavily populated residential area with 3 large schools (PALS, Peoria Academy and Ridgeview Grade School) and there is another school being built right now - the new Notre Dame HS. We have 1 church adjacent from the dispensary - - - and several eateries in the area. Our neighborhood experiences a constant flow of traffic and is bursting with traffic during rush hours and school start and end times. The traffic that can be expected to flow in association with this business cannot be accommodated by our roads. The business conditions and environments of a marijuana dispensary as indicated by the State of IL via the rules determining safe locations, security requirements and police ratios for dispensaries DO NOT belong in a residential neighborhood. The business conditions as indicated by the applicant detailing the twice daily visit of an armored car to the marijuana dispensary to deliver marijuana and collect the cash DO NOT belong in a residential neighborhood. I am asking the Council and Staff of the City of Peoria to review and consider reversing its decision to support the location of a marijuana dispensary at 3611 W Willow Knolls Drive in Peoria .
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 01:13:22 +0000
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