ORDINANCE
WHEREAS, The Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (410 ILCS 705/ et seq.) authorizes the legal voters of any precinct in a municipality with a population' of over 500,000 to petition their local alderman to introduce an ordinance establishing the precinct as a "Restricted Cannabis Zone" in which all cannabis business establishments are prohibited; and
WHEREAS, Section 55-28(c) of the Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act: requires that persons seeking to initiate the petition process submit to the City Clerk a notice of intent that includes a description of the potentially affected area and the scope of the restriction sought; provides that in order to be legally sufficient all signatures on the petition must be obtained within 90 days of the date on which the City Clerk posts the notice of intent online; and states that if the City Clerk rejects a petition as legally insufficient, a minimum of 12 months must elapse before a new notice of intent may be submitted for the same precinct; and
WHEREAS, On March 20, 2020, in response to the rapid spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) throughout the State, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker issued Executive Order 2020-10 ("Stay-at-Home Order"), which went into effect on March 21, 2020 at 5:00 p.m., ordering Illinois residents to stay at hpme except for essential activities; and
WHEREAS, At the time the Stay-at-Home order was issued, several notices of intent to initiate the petition process to establish a Restricted Cannabis Zone had been posted by the City Clerk, meaning that petitions to establish Restricted Cannabis Zones were being circulated for signatures in various precincts across the City; once the Stay-at-Home Order went into effect, these petitioners became legally prohibited from circulating their petitions and were effectively precluded from obtaining the required number of signatures within the statutory 90-day circulation period; and
WHEREAS, In order to effectuate the legislative intent o...
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