As Des Plaines officials weigh proposals from entrepreneurs hoping to open the suburb’s first cannabis dispensaries, the city council has decided to limit the number of pot shops that can operate in town.

Under a licensing program approved Monday, no more than three dispensaries will be allowed in Des Plaines. Licenses will cost $200 and must be renewed annually.

That’s a paltry sum for a city with a $198 million annual budget. But the goal of the licensing program isn’t to make money, Mayor Andrew Goczkowski said — it’s to prevent proliferation within city limits.

“It’s about ensuring that we don’t get too many dispensaries and have them cannibalize each other, and so we don’t have them on every street corner and in every strip mall,” Goczkowski said.

Sales are booming

Retail cannabis sales in Illinois have grown each year since recreational pot possession and sales were legalized here in 2020, according to the Illinois Cannabis Regulation Oversight Office. Sales at dispensaries exceeded $2 billion last year, with about 86% of the spending being done by recreational users.

All dispensary operators must be licensed by the state and follow state regulations. Local rules and procedures vary.

Like Des Plaines, Mundelein and Antioch require pot shops to purchase municipal licenses. Each town has a maximum of two licenses but only one operating dispensary.

Customers make purchases at the Rise cannabis dispensary in Mundelein. Like Des Plaines, Mundelein requires dispensaries to buy annual licenses.
Daily Herald file photo, 2020

Wheeling and Naperville require dispensary operators to get special permits before they can open. Naperville capped the number of permits at three, and it has three dispensaries; Wheeling has no such cap and has one shop, following the recent closure of another.

Rolling Meadows, which has one dispensary, treats weed stores like any other enterprise and requires the purchase of a renewable business license.

Lombard controls the location of dispensaries through zoning regulations rather than a licensing system. One shop operates in town.

“As a non-home rule municipality, Lombard has limited authority to directly license cannabis dispensaries in the way home rule communities can,” spokesperson Stephanie Calvillo said. “While we can regulate their locations through zoning or choose to prohibit them, we do not have a separate municipal licensing system for them.”

Trying to be business-friendly

While no cannabis dispensaries operate in Des Plaines now, eight exist within one mile of the city limits, documents indicate.

Des Plaines is “leaving money on the table” by not having dispensaries in town, Goczkowski said.

The city council has taken steps in recent years to lure dispensaries to Des Plaines.

For example, the panel added dispensaries to the types of businesses permitted in commercial, shopping and manufacturing districts and in the downtown area. It also scrapped a rule that said cannabis-related businesses must be at least 1,500 feet from each other.

“We are looking to be as business-friendly as possible, so we can grow as a community,” Goczkowski said.

That hasn’t always been the case.

In late 2021, the council snuffed out a plan to open a dispensary in a vacant building at 1504 Miner St., within the Metropolitan Square complex. Council members initially supported the proposal but reversed course after public opposition from residents and cannabis critics from outside Des Plaines, including some who made lengthy religious arguments against cannabis use.

The Des Plaines city council in 2021 rejected a plan to open a cannabis dispensary at 1504 Miner St. The former restaurant building remains unused today.
Daily Herald file photo, 2021

The council’s lineup has changed significantly since then, and city officials frequently receive inquiries from companies interested in opening dispensaries in town, Community and Economic Development Director Jeff Rogers said.

In fact, two companies are working with city staffers on business applications for dispensaries right now, Rogers told the council Monday.