DANVILLE — Several Danville aldermen said Tuesday night’s vote to allow construction of a third cannabis dispensary, Casey’s truck stop, quick-service restaurant and other development on farmland south of the Interstate 74 and Lynch Road interchange is not just about if three cannabis dispensaries can survive competing against each other in Danville’s Lynch Road area.
They say it’s about a lot more to the city. It’s about bringing jobs and future development at one of the city’s interstate exits — an area local economic development officials have worked decades to try to develop.
“It’s going to provide incomes. It’s going to provide jobs. It’s going to provide quite a bit that this city needs, and it’s the shot in the arm that this city needs right now,” said Ward 6 Alderman Jon Cooper.
The council voted 9-4 — with aldermen Ed Butler, Sherry Pickering, James Poshard and Carolyn Wands against, and Heidi Wilson absent — to approve MariWorks LLC’s special-use permit request for the development of land west of Southgate Drive, for a cannabis dispensary to be operated in the B-3 general business zoning district with a Casey’s truck stop and other potential development.
The cannabis dispensary would be collaborating under the nuEra