Gold Coast residents are pushing again as a pair of Loop-based pot companies look to arrange store within the upscale neighborhood.
Cresco Labs needs to promote leisure weed at 21 W. Division St., whereas PharmaCann hopes to open at 12-14 W. Maple St. Though each deliberate dispensaries are positioned close to a number of institutions that already serve alcohol, members of a neighborhood group are involved {that a} pot store may “give rise to more crime.”
“We just don’t believe it belongs in the middle of our residential neighborhood,” mentioned Vern Broders, a enterprise chief who serves as president of the Gold Coast Neighbors Association.
Broders famous that residents are already grappling with “a longtime problem with drug dealing” close to Division and Clark streets. Now, they’re anxious {that a} new, cash-only hashish enterprise would appeal to “easy targets” for robberies and different crimes, he mentioned.
While Broders claimed that folk from the Gold Coast largely help marijuana legalization, many need the drug offered elsewhere. Three-quarters of the 200 residents who responded to a latest survey opposed a dispensary opening within the neighborhood.
“The parents of schoolchildren are naturally concerned about having cannabis customers roaming in the neighborhood,” he mentioned. “Less than two miles west of us are industrial areas that many people believe this type of store would be much better suited for.”
Cresco and PharmaCann will each maintain required neighborhood conferences at 6 p.m. Thursday. Broders estimated that round 50 neighbors will cut up as much as attend the dueling public boards.
Cresco spokesman Jason Erkes mentioned the corporate seems to be ahead to “debunking the myths with statistics about crime rates, property values and the overall general impact a dispensary has on a community.” He pointed to an evaluation of a collection of research revealed final yr by Leafly that, amongst different issues, discovered crime close to dispensaries “generally stayed flat or decreased.”
“We understand a lot of the community is scared of something new — especially when misinformation is being spread,” mentioned Erkes.
PharmaCann spokesman Jeremy Unruh mentioned he’s anxious Gold Coast residents “have not been properly informed” concerning the firm’s intentions. In addition to working fewer hours than allowed below state legislation, using “state-of-the-art security systems” and making a system for managing traces, Unruh mentioned prospects would by no means be allowed to make use of weed on-site.
“We look forward to having an open, civil dialogue about what we propose, inviting the community’s feedback in the process,” Unruh added.
Both firms will even seem Friday at a particular assembly of the Zoning Board of Appeals as they pursue further places within the metropolis.
Cresco and PharmaCann are among the many 4 companies already competing to open the primary pot shops within the scorching River North neighborhood. Because all these websites are clustered intently collectively and state legislation requires them to be 1,500 toes aside, solely the primary dispensary to win zoning native approval and go a state inspection can be permitted to open.
The identical rule will come into play within the Gold Coast, the place the proposed shops are simply blocks away. That means the involved Gold Coast residents in the end solely have to fret about one dispensary opening for now.