It remains to be seen if the Village of Plainfield will join neighboring communities like Joliet, Shorewood, Romeoville, and Bolingbrook by being part of a lucrative enterprise.

The Plainfield Village Board on Monday discussed the possibility of having adult-use cannabis facilities by reviewing a draft zoning amendment that would require cannabis dispensaries to obtain a special use permit allowed to operate only in business districts.

To gage the public’s input, the Village of Plainfield placed an advisory referendum on the April ballot asking voters if they want a recreational cannabis business in the community.

Jake Melrose, planning director for Plainfield, said 1,558 people voted yes to allowing recreational cannabis to be sold in the village, compared to 1,527 who were against it.

Melrose reminded the Plainfield Village Board Monday that these referendum results were a small sample of what residents want to see in the community.

“The referendum results represented 6.8 percent of the village’s population,” he said. “Second, the limited population that voted represents a small demographic segment.”

Melrose said Plainfield’s median age is 37 years old with more than 20,000 people between the ages of 21 to 59.

“New data from the Pew Research Center in 2022 shows 59 percent of the total adults surveyed believe recreational cannabis should be legal,” he added.

Melrose told the village board that whenever the State of Illinois releases new dispensary licenses, the village has been approached for this type of business opportunity since 2019.

“From initial discussions with these dispensaries, it is staff’s understanding that one dispensary could represent a minimum of $300,000 in home rules sales tax,” he said.

On Monday, staff presented a proposed zoning amendment that states only two licenses would be allowed in the community, with enough buffer between the cannabis business and nearby schools or homes. The regulations also established a prohibition for on-site consumption of any cannabis product.

Village trustee Richard Kiefer said he supports a recreation cannabis business in Plainfield.

“I think we run a chance of losing out if we want the revenue stream,” he said. “I like to see our village residents spend their money in Plainfield” instead of buying cannabis in Joliet, Bolingbrook or Romeoville, Kiefer noted.

Prior to the board meeting, trustee Margie Bonuchi said she called representatives of Bolingbrook and Romeoville to inquire how sales from marijuana dispensaries are performing in their communities. While representatives from both municipalities did not disclose their exact finances, Bonuchi said she was told their revenue was coming in substantially less.

“A lot of these places are not generating the sales they projected,” she added.

But Village President John Argoudelis and trustee Tom Ruane said they believe other towns are downplaying their sales for fear of Plainfield cutting into their profits.

“It is a bit like gaming where there is an x amount of money in revenue,” said Village Administrator Joshua Blakemore. “It is not best served as a general fund revenue. It could fluctuate in the next five, 10 or 20 years. It could be an added revenue stream in the capital improvement fund where we could use it on road projects.”

Blakemore said he heard one estimate that Naperville made $1.6 million from three dispensaries in the suburb.

Despite the financial possibilities, trustee Patricia Kalkanis said she would rather see other types of businesses that benefit the entire community open in Plainfield.

“There are so many things missing in this town,” said Kalkanis, citing a pediatric urgent care, health food store and a movie theater as some of the amenities Plainfield is lacking. “To a certain point, it is embarrassing we are looking at this. It is not something we absolutely need. It is not the direction the village should be going.”

But Argoudelis said he fully supports the recreation cannabis proposal.

“Tax relief for homeowners is the number one thing I hear from people,” said the mayor. “This provides another revenue stream, and it is a user-based tax.”