Politics & Government

Votes on Liquor Licenses at Monthly Board Meeting

Trustees approve several alcohol-related amendments, plus a couple of miscellaneous items. Here's the lowdown on what passed.

Got a business in Western Springs? With the right license, you can now be BYOB.

Ordinance No. 10-2590 passed at Monday's board meeting, creating the new Class K classification of liquor license in the village, which allows patrons to bring their own beer or wine (no spirits) to any Class K business. The classification includes a corkage clause, meaning that the establishment is responsible for monitoring patrons' level of consumption. (One business expected to apply for the BYOB license almost immediately: Scavuzzo's.)

The ordinance, along with three other alcohol-related amendments, passed with a unanimous 6-0 vote by the board. Two of the additional ordinances are temporary licenses for consumption on otherwise forbidden territory: the first permits St. John of the Cross to use alcohol for its September 18 family celebration event and its October 15 Octoberfest; the second is for Taste of Vino, which will have a outdoor wine tasting event on Burlington Avenue on September 11.

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Finally, the third alcohol-related vote was to waive permanently writing all temporary licenses—like the two just passed—into the village code. The official code makes note of all businesses in the village with permanent liquor licenses.

Also passed was a resolution to bring the village code up to date with a federal update to anti-discrimination legislation (the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 [Gina] and the Mental Health Parity and Additions Equity Act of 2008 [Michelle's Law,]) as well as a reappointment of Richard Fisher to the Infrastructure Commission for a term ending December, 2012. Both also passed unanimously.

Find out what's happening in Western Springswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The closest anyone came to a dissenting vote was Trustee James Horvath, who abstained from voting on the approval of the minutes from July 19th and August 18th meetings, as he had not attended the meeting on the 18th. (The minutes passed, 5-0.)

Trustee Horvath also presented a financial report which he stated that the village is currently running a $100,000 deficit, but is expected to earn it back with property taxes and Metra's 80% reimbursement of the town's downtown redevelopment expenses. Trustee Lyons presented a report on progress of the new fire station (read our full report on the station here.)

Also notable: the second board meeting of September has been moved from the 27th to the 20th.


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