PEKIN, Ill. — An expansion to the Pekin Municipal Airport were approved Monday night by the city council, along with an adult use cannabis craft grower.
Pekin Mayor, Mark Luft, said the expansion for the airport is very exciting.
Plans in the expansion include more T-hangers.
“We have a waiting list of over 20 people who have been waiting to store their plane there. There will be about a 85 by 120 hanger built to extend for the business,” Luft said. “Which will mean more employees down there.”
Luft said that the airport actually helps out local businesses.
“We have about 18 businesses that utilize that airport, so we are going to see good things with that,” Luft said.
When a plane manufactured in Latvia was looking for a dealership in North America, they chose Pekin.
“It came down to two, believe it or not, Pekin, Illinois and a group in California,” Luft said. “We ended up with the dealership, so we are the only dealer in North America. And if sales go right the first that first year that that dealership is here, then they will be looking at building an actual manufacturing facility for that plane.”
Luft said the airport located a funding source that did not increase any prices.
“They were able to find a funding source without raising the tax, without raising fuel, without raising a fee. To be able to be smart enough to find that and make that happen speaks wonders about those guys down there. They are truly a blessing.”
Also approved Monday night was a craft grower location for adult use cannabis at 1805 Riverway Dr.
However, no more licenses will be given out this year, so the group wanting to open the business will have to wait until December 2021.
Luft said approving the location over a year in advance helps the business because the application process for the state is based on a point system.
“So, the more points you have on there, obviously that shows you’re doing your homework, you know what is needed for that application. There’s so many different things involved,” Luft said. “And of course, the more points, the higher up the totem pole you go.”
Luft said with this group and their professionalism, he is positive they stand a very good chance of getting a licence.
“Just in the short time of working with this group it was obvious they are very professional, they want this to happen, they dotted every ‘i’, crossed every ‘t’, answered every single question,” Luft said.
“It’s our turn, it’s our time here in Pekin. And we’re going to see that over the next couple of years. We’ve done a lot of work the past eight months, and in the next couple of years, we’re going to watch the effect of that,” Luft said.
