SYCAMORE – Although DeKalb County is going to allow sales of recreational marijuana, board members decided they needed a little more time to sort out the details.
This means there would be no dispensaries in unincorporated DeKalb County until June 30 at the earliest.
“The staff knew it was going to take us longer than the first of January,” board member Steve Faivre, D-District 4, said about the Planning and Zoning Committee passing the ordinance.
Faivre said it’s important for people to know the moratorium would only be for unincorporated DeKalb County.
Member Jim Luebke, D-District 9, said that with the six different types of cannabis businesses, there isn’t enough time to come up with regulations for all of them.
Luebke said for any funds that come in via municipalities that agree to a recreational cannabis ordinance, the county gets some of it.
“If they’re collecting tax revenue the county gets a slice,” Luebke said. “The county’s slice will be designated for education for the health department. … People need to be educated on gummies, doses, child-proof caps.”
He said he doesn’t expect that any tax revenue made during the moratorium period would be a large amount of money.
The moratorium could also end before June 30. When the moratorium was brought up at Wednesday’s County Board meeting, Faivre read it in its entirety. The moratorium, which was passed Wednesday, could be lifted by the board with a majority vote.
Board Chairman Mark Pietrowski, D-District 3, said the earliest the moratorium would be lifted, by majority vote, would be in February or March.
Luebke said the money allocated to the public health department would be related to recreational cannabis education. Faivre said the business involved with production, transport and selling won’t be able to apply for a permit until the board lifts the moratorium and there is an ordinance in place.
Derek Hiland, who discussed the moratorium during the meeting, said the thought process behind creating the additional time is to allow the Planning and Zoning Committee and the staff the opportunity to implement a new ordinance.
“Given the time with the holidays and trying to marry that up with how quickly we can get this in place, I think this is what makes the most sense,” Hiland said. “I don’t know we would meet in the time frame to do so, but just in case any unforeseen circumstance arose, this was the best approach to ensure we would have the ordinance in place to direct development as it was brought first.”
Source: The Daily Chronicle
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