MONTGOMERY – Montgomery village officials are expecting public discussions about recreational marijuana in the village to come in the next few weeks.
Montgomery Village President Matt Brolley deferred comment on the matter to Village Administrator Jeff Zoephel.
Zoephel said there hasn't been public discussion on the issue from a village standpoint so far, but the village is starting to get some information from village attorneys regarding the new state law and what it means for the village.
The village and other municipalities have the authority under the law to allow cannabis producers and retailers to locate within their borders effective Jan. 1 and to impose additional regulations on those businesses.
If village officials don't have enough information to get the ball rolling on a potential ordinance by the Monday, Aug. 26 village board meeting, he said, those talks are anticipated to begin either during the Sept. 9 or Sept. 23 meetings.
"I honestly don’t know where they stand right now," Zoephel said. "We have just been gathering the information to give to them."
Zoephel's comments come after Kendall County officials started talking about what recreational marijuana could look like from a zoning standpoint and whether the county would opt in or opt out of allowing related sales in unincorporated areas of the county. That follows Illinois becoming the 11th state in the country to allow recreational marijuana, when Gov. JB Pritzker signed the bill into law in June.
Illinois adults ages 21 and older will be able to carry 30 grams, or slightly more than an ounce, of cannabis flower; up to a half-gram of THC – the chemical compound that gets users high – within cannabis-infused products, such as edibles; and 5 grams of cannabis concentrate, such as hash oil. For visitors from outside the state, those possession amounts are cut in half.
Zoephel's comments also come as Yorkville Mayor John Purcell said he is anticipating the beginning of city discussions about recreational marijuana to begin during the next Yorkville City Council meeting, Oswego Village President Troy Parlier said public discussions are expected to begin during a Sept. 3 committee of the whole meeting and Plano Mayor Bob Hausler expecting full discussions to begin during the city's Sept. 9 committee of the whole meeting.
Zoephel said discussions about the issue are still preliminary at the board level. If the public has interest in the topic, he said, village officials encourage interested residents to come to the upcoming meetings and participate in those discussions.
“We just kind of want to get the information to the board so they can make an informed decision about what they would like to do," Zoephel said.