The Brookfield Village Board unanimously and without comment voted to approve a special use permit to The 1937 Group to convert a former medical office at 8863 Ogden Ave. into the village’s first adult-use recreational cannabis dispensary.
The vote capped off a fairly quick zoning review, which included a unanimous recommendation from the Brookfield Planning and Zoning Commission in late April, followed by a brief presentation by the company to elected officials at their May 8 committee of the whole meeting, where it appeared almost certain trustees were on board with the proposed dispensary.
The 1937 Group, which was granted one of the state’s social equity licenses, takes its name from the federal Marijuana Act of 1937 that outlawed cannabis in the United States. Its enforcement often targeted minority communities.
The company’s CEO, Ambrose Jackson, is a former healthcare administrator. In addition to the coming Brookfield dispensary, The 1937 Group operates a cannabis manufacturing facility in Broadview and a dispensary in downstate Tilton, near Danville.
Sonia Antolec, the company’s chief legal counsel and a Brookfield resident, told the Landmark in April that The 1937 Group ultimately seeks to obtain the state’s maximum 10 licenses in order for the company