Marijuana Dispensary For Joliet’s West Jefferson Street, Council Vote Revealed

JOLIET — Last month’s unanimous 5-0 vote by Joliet’s board of zoning carried absolutely no weight when it came time for the Joliet City Council to make the final decision on the proposal for Joliet’s first marijuana dispensary on West Jefferson Street. The Council voted 7-2 in favor of the redevelopment on Tuesday night.

At the meeting, Council members Cesar Guerrero, Cesar Cardenas, Jan Quillman, Joe Clement, Pat Mudron, Suzanna Ibarra and Mayor Terry D’Arcy voted yes. Only Larry Hug and Sherri Reardon voted not. Reardon told everyone that although she believes in the benefits of medical marijuana, “I don’t believe in the location on Jefferson Street, so I vote no.”

Leading up to Tuesday night’s vote, Dustin Anderson, who took over as Joliet’s director of community development last year, recommended that the Joliet City Council approve a special use permit for the Bisa Lina Dispensary. The business intends to redevelop the empty NAPA auto parts building on West Jefferson Street into a marijuana dispensary.

On March 20, the Joliet Zoning Board voted unanimously against putting a dispensary at 2121 West Jefferson Street. Representatives with the marijuana company told Joliet they will have security guards on the property during regular business hours, and they expect to generate about $360,000 in new sales taxes for the city of Joliet annually.

Last year, the Joliet City Council went along with city manager Beth Beatty’s recommendations of raising the property taxes and raising the fuel taxes on unleaded and diesel in order to help Joliet generate more money for the 2025 operating budget.

Representatives with Bisa Lina Dispensary have assured Joliet that the empty NAPA store next to the Walgreens pharmacy along Hammes Avenue will become a thriving and prosperous property, once they remodel the building and open it for business.

At Monday’s pre-council meeting, Councilwoman Ibarra suggested that the new West Jefferson Street dispensary would become a regional attraction because Bisa Lina intends to offer some of the lowest prices for its marijuana products compared to other competitors in the Chicago region. The company already has a location along North Avenue in Carol Stream.

After Tuesday night’s vote, Hug told his fellow Council members that now that Joliet has approved three marijuana stores, with the other two operated by RISE, Hug suggested that Joliet consider a cap for how many marijuana stores Joliet wants to have?

Hug wanted to know if Joliet wants to operate three, 10, 100 or 1,000 marijuana stores. While Joliet has been for many decades as a prison town, “We don’t want to become the pot capital either,” Hug pointed out.