Belleville expects proposed marijuana dispensary to be big revenue producer for city
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with the correct vote tally of 14-1 and the attribution of a quote. Mayor Patty Gregory said, “I think it’s going to mean a lot as far as tax dollars.”
The Belleville City Council on Monday night approved plans for a cannabis dispensary off Illinois 15.
If the site opens as planned, city leaders expect the dispensary to be the top sales tax generator for the city of Belleville.
The Belleville site is at 7300 Twin Pyramid Parkway, which is near the intersection of Illinois 15 and South 74th Street. The brick building, which has two pyramid shapes as part of its roof, previously was the location of Belleville Oncology.
Washington, D.C.-based Blounts & Moore received the permit to open the Belleville location.
A representative of the company could not be reached for comment on Monday but Clifford Cross, director of the city’s Economic Development, Planning & Zoning Department, said he believes the dispensary will be open in six months.
Based on an ordinance the city passed in 2019, the city will collect 3% of the sales at the dispensary.
“I think it’s going to mean a lot as far as tax dollars,” Mayor Patty Gregory said after the City Council meeting
The council voted 14-1 to approve a special-use permit for the dispensary. Gregory said she has met with some department heads about how to use the sales tax revenue generated by the store.
“Of course we will be very careful how we use that money,” she said. “We’ll first of all fix more streets, second of all, hire more code enforcers because as we’ve always said we’re a city with old housing stock.”
“We realize that we do have a need for more code enforcers,” Gregory said based on the complaints the city receives via its Report a Concern line on the city’s website. “I think if we hire more, it’s going to get things accomplished sooner than later.”
The council has 16 members and Ward 1 Alderman Joe Hazel was absent for the meeting. The 14 members who voted to approve the special-use permit included Kara Osthoff, who was sworn into office to represent Ward 8 on Monday night to replace Roger Wigginton, who had resigned from his Ward 8 seat because he recently moved into Ward 4.
Ward 4 Alderman Raffi Ovian cast the lone dissenting vote. He said after the meeting he’s opposed to marijuana sales on “religious and moral grounds.” Ovian also had voted against a proposal to allow an indoor pot growing farm in 2020. That business never developed the cultivation site although it had received a permit from the city to open one off Illinois 15.
Other places that already sell marijuana in the metro-east include sites in Collinsville, Fairview Heights and Sauget.
Illinois began allowing marijuana sales for recreational use on Jan. 1, 2020. In 2021, the industry had $1.37 billion in sales in the state.
Blounts & Moore, which was featured in a Rolling Stone magazine article in July, reports it has obtained six marijuana dispensary licenses and two for growing marijuana in Illinois.
The company was founded by a group of Black women who want to ensure Black Illinois residents are involved in the development of the marijuana industry.
Blounts & Moore’s website lists five Black Illinois residents who are partners in the company’s effort to open dispensaries and cultivation sites in the state.
“We are working to bring Black America into this new green economy to support health and build wealth,” the firm states on its website.
This story was originally published May 2, 2022 at 10:13 PM.
