City leaders are split on whether to allow drive-through service at cannabis dispensaries in Peoria.
During Tuesday’s Peoria City Council meeting, several members voiced strong support for the idea while others seemed hesitant and some suggested prohibiting the option altogether.
The range of opinions emerged as the council considered a series of code changes after Illinois updated state law governing cannabis sales earlier this year to allow drive-through and curbside sales, as well as operating hours until 2 a.m.
“While I’ve been supportive of dispensaries and taking advantage, if you will, of the state law allowing this, the drive-through concept kind of leaves me puzzled,” said council member Tim Riggebach. “This isn’t a McDonald’s. This isn’t a dry cleaner. This is something a little more significant.”
While Rigginbach leaned toward prohibiting cannabis drive-throughs, Alex Carmona fully supported the idea.
“This is one of the most regulated and controlled industries around. They do operate very responsibly. They’re forced to; otherwise, they’ll be out of business,” said Carmona.
“We’re talking about a drive-through here for a very regulated product or a facility who’s forced to have a security guard. I mean, I just don't know why we would vote this down.”
Peoria has a cap of six medical and adult use recreational cannabis dispensary licenses, with four currently in use. Under the staff’s recommendation, drive-through service would be granted through a special use allowance. That would require council consideration for each applicant seeking to install a drive-through.
“I like the idea that it’ll come through us through the special use process,” said council member Andre Allen. “So, if we get one or two drive-throughs that come through, we may say, ‘You know what, that’s enough.’ Let’s see how it plays out.”
Council member Denise Jackson sided with the wait-and-see approach.
“Most times, we tend to make decisions based on capitalistic society demand, and I haven’t heard anything tonight about dispensaries needing it, requesting it,” said Jackson. “So I would be inclined to kind of want to wait until the demand for drive-through services becomes necessary.”
While council member Denis Cyr remained firm in his complete opposition to recreational marijuana, Mike Vespa said when it comes to legalization, “that horse is out of the barn.” But Vespa also suggested drive-through service would be going “a step too far.”
“If the reason that these dispensaries are not being not being robbed or attracting crime is the security, then installing a drive-through kind of bypasses that security that that keeps it safe. So I guess I’m a little concerned there,” said Vespa.
Ultimately, the council voted 7-4 to defer the drive-through service consideration for two weeks, with Cyr, John Kelly, Zach Oyler and Kiran Velpula in the minority.
“I’m really hesitant to say yes, yet I don’t want to shut the door from dispensaries being able to apply,” said Mayor Rita Ali. “At this time I would say I’m not ready to approve a drive-through. But I might be six months from now, or I might be three months from now, or I might be a year from now.”
A second part of the two-tiered agenda item recommended allowing curbside cannabis pickup and setting a 10 p.m. closing time for dispensaries. The previous state regulations already had a 10 p.m. limit, and the city set no operating hours standard of its own.
Kelly moved to sever that part of the ordinance into separate considerations and to defer the curbside allowance for two weeks. That motion passed with Allen, Cyr, Carmona and Velpula opposed.
The council then voted 10-1 in approving the operating hours with a 10 p.m. closing, with Cyr alone in opposition.
