Cannabis farm would require Joliet to reduce cannabis buffer

A proposed cannabis farm next to the Sugar Creek subdivision would require the city to shorten a buffer zone it has refused to do elsewhere in Joliet.

The proposal goes to the Joliet Zoning Board of Appeals and Plan Commission for consideration Thursday.

The plan continues to face questions and opposition from neighbors, who said the city would have to reduce a 250-foot distance between cannabis operations and houses that it has refused to do in other neighborhoods.

“If it goes on the West Side of town it gets shut down,” said Megan Cooper, who has spoken out on a number of projects planned for the southeast section of Joliet. “Is it because this side of town is populated by the Black and brown community?”

A lawyer with the Alessio family, which would develop the site, said neighbors would hardly notice the facility once it’s running.

“They might as well be growing spinach,” said Carla Alessio-Policandriotes. “You can’t see what’s going on inside.”

Alessio-Policandriotes said that the cannabis facility, if it gets approval, would be operated by a minority-owned enterprise, not the Alessio family.

The proposed site is along Route 52 at Alessio Drive and is on the edge of an industrial park developed by the Alessio family, which operates a construction business there.

The area is a mix of residential, industrial and commercial property.

The proposed site for the cannabis operation is across Alessio Drive from the East Side Church of Christ. On the other side and across Sugar Creek is the Sugar Creek subdivision, a neighborhood known for its tall trees and rustic atmosphere.

The Alessio family is seeking a reduction in the buffer area between cannabis operations and residential areas to 40 feet.

The requirement now is 250 feet.

The City Council in November refused to reduce that buffer to 100 feet when the shorter distance was proposed to accommodate cannabis retailers seeking sites along Jefferson Street on the West Side of the city.

Alessio-Policandriotes said there is a difference between cannabis dispensaries and growing facilities that could be considered in the buffer requirement.

City staff is recommending certain conditions if the growing facility is approved, including that the Alessio family rectify existing site violations.

The site violations appear to be related to excavation activity on the site last year before the application was made for the cannabis operation.

Alessio-Policandriotes said some trees were cleared away on the site, but the work was related to the use of the area as a storage site for construction equipment and was not related to the cannabis project.