Another marijuana dispensary seeks to open in Oswego

The Oswego Planning and Zoning Commission Thursday will consider a special use permit for a proposed marijuana dispensary in the village, the third request for a dispensary in Oswego in as many months.

The commission will meet at 7 p.m. at Oswego Village Hall, 100 Parkers Mill.

Oswego trustees in December approved the village’s first marijuana dispensary after two competing groups vying to locate dispensaries in close proximity to one another submitted requests.

Oswego trustees voted 4-2 to give Cloud 9 Dispensary a special use permit to run a marijuana dispensary in a former restaurant at 2420 Route 30 near the Townes Crossing Shopping Center.

Another company had proposed opening a marijuana dispensary nearby in a former daycare center at 260 N. Merchants Drive in Oswego.

Now, Blounts & Moore, which began in South Carolina in 2019 according to its website, is seeking approval of a special use permit for a marijuana dispensary at 1144 Douglas Road in Oswego.

The company has six licenses for adult-use marijuana retail businesses and two licenses for marijuana craft growing operations in Illinois.

Blounts & Moore is requesting approval to locate in a vacant commercial unit on the south end of a multi-tenant building to the north of a pizzeria, Oswego Village Planner Valeria Tarka said.

The proposed use is consistent with the area, the village planner said.

“The subject property is a vacant tenant space formerly used by a chiropractor’s office. The property is surrounded by a mix of retail, service and restaurant uses. Overall, the proposed cannabis dispensing facility is consistent with the surrounding commercial uses in the area,” she said.

Per the village’s ordinance, at least 75% of the floor area of a tenant space occupied by a marijuana dispensing operation must be used for dispensing the product and not for any other functions such as selling food for consumption on the premises.

According to the group’s website, Blounts & Moore has investments in marijuana ventures in many states. 

Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.