Cannabis businesses in Peoria will be able to consider adding drive-through and curbside service in the near future.
The Peoria City Council on Tuesday voted to allow both options for medical and recreational dispensaries, following Illinois’ updated state law governing marijuana sales.
“We have to navigate this new social norm that is recreational marijuana, and I know that there still is a stigma to that and I'm not naive to it,” said council member Andre Allen. “But I think when you offer the drive-through and the curbside pickup offering of it, you give a level of discretion for consumers.”
The council approved both sales options on 7-4 votes. Denis Cyr, Zach Oyler, Tim Riggenbach and Kiran Velpula voted against drive-throughs, while Denise Jackson joined Cyr, Oyler and Velpula in opposing curbside sales.
“I think if you look at the record of municipalities in different states who allow drive-throughs, you would find that a drive-through, like any other drive-through, it's not dangerous and that it's not causing any problems,” said council member Alex Carmona, adding the Peoria Police Department has not encountered any criminal problems stemming from the current legal cannabis operations.
“It’d be much better for us as a city to continue to try to be business friendly. Cannabis use is legal in our state, [and] the state is opening up certain restrictions to the way that businesses can operate. I believe that we should try to follow their lead in this respect.”
The proposal to allow the additional cannabis service options had been deferred from the Oct. 27 meeting. At that time, the council voted to set a 10 p.m. closing time for dispensaries.
Regarding drive-through service, city attorney Patrick Hayes said the council had three options: allow it through special use applications; allow it through administrative action; or prohibit it entirely.
Hayes said the staff’s recommendation was to allow both sales options through the special use process. He added that if there was no consensus for the special use option, they would recommend prohibiting drive-throughs as an interim measure.
Peoria has a limit of six cannabis dispensary licenses. Five of them are in use, and planning and zoning manager Debbi La Rue said the sixth is reserved for a social equity applicant. None of the existing businesses have yet indicated any plans to install a drive-through.
Hayes noted it’s possible the state could enact additional regulations on drive-through service at dispensaries, saying the city could consider prohibiting the possibility for now and revisit the matter within six months.
“That gives council maximum latitude. If something came up sooner, council could take action,” said Hayes. “But I just think it's going to be a few months before the state accomplishes any outcome on that issue.”
Riggenbach cited that possibility as one reason for his opposition to allowing drive-through sales.
“It just seems like we’re putting the cart before the horse because we know the state’s going to have some regulatory specifics as to how these need to operate,” said Riggenbach, adding he felt approval would be premature.
“I think for us, the responsible thing to do is to say, ‘let's prohibit it tonight,’ and once the state comes up with the game plan, then we can move forward with our special use process.”
