Bisa Lina Marijuana Dispensary Wants To Erect 2 Signs On Joliet's West Jefferson Street

JOLIET, IL — The city of Joliet's zoning board, an advisory group for the Joliet City Council, will meet at 2 p.m. on Thursday on the second floor of City Hall to review the proposed business signs for Joliet's first marijuana business that will be opening on the busy West Jefferson Street corridor.

The Council approved the project back in April, but it's only been in recent weeks that the owners of the future Bisa Lina marijuana dispensary have actually started remodeling the former NAPA Auto Parts store at 2121 W. Jefferson St.

According to city documents, the petitioner, Kuntal Shah with Veltiste Illinois, seeks to install two wall signs and a new pole sign for his new business at 2121 W. Jefferson Street. Both wall signs would be 82 square feet, with one located on the south wall facing Jefferson Street and the other located on the east wall facing the Walgreens lot and Hammes Avenue.

The proposed pole sign would be 17 feet tall with a sign face area of 70 square feet.

The zoning board information packet indicates that the City of Joliet Zoning Ordinance does not allow wall signs that do not face a public street in the general business) zoning district.

The petitioner would like to install a wall sign on the east façade to help direct westbound traffic on Jefferson Street to the site. With the addition of a second wall sign, the total proposed sign area for the site is 234 square feet.

The city of Joliet recommendation indicates that "staff finds that the requests for an additional wall sign and to increase total sign area for the site meet the following criteria for sign variations: the proposed use would not be detrimental to the use or development of other property in the area; ownership of the property has been demonstrated; and approval of the variation would not be contrary to the objective of improving the overall appearance of the City. Many other properties on Jefferson Street have wall signs on their side elevations. The proposed east wall sign will be integrated with the updated façade of the building."

Back in April, Joliet Patch reported that Veltiste Wellness anticipates the Joliet dispensary will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. The company intends to employ around 20 people, with four to seven employees onsite at any given time, including at least one security guard.

Veltiste Wellness expects to serve 300 to 700 customers per day at this location, with peak periods between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and with Thursday and Friday being the highest-traffic days.

During peak hours, the dispensary expects to serve 50 to 80 customers per hour. During off-peak hours, 15 to 40 customers per hour are expected.