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Waukegan moves against 'nightclub' complaints |
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* Banquet halls: Transformed into after-hours clubs
By: Dan Moran , Staff Writer
WAUKEGAN - Complaints about restaurants and banquet halls being transformed into discreet nightclubs has prompted the City Council to enact new definitions for nightclubs - and ban their establishment in high-crime areas.
The council voted 7-2 on Monday to differentiate nightclubs from bars and restaurants, defining a nightclub as "an establishment (that) provides dancing and/or entertainment as its principal use."
First Ward Ald. Sam Cunningham said he sees the new language in the city's zoning books as targeting "these restaurants that conveniently turn themselves into nightclubs ... Right now, they're on every corner, because people are taking advantage of the situation."
City officials described scenarios where a business licensed as a restaurant will clear away tables after a certain hour and start charging a cover for live entertainment. They also mentioned cases of banquet halls being rented out for de facto nightclub use.
In discussing new regulations over the past few months, city officials have evoked the spectre of the February 2003 tragedy at Chicago's E2 nightclub, where 21 people died in a stampede from an allegedly overcrowded and poorly secured facility.
City Planner Russ Tomlin said the revised zoning law, which requires a conditional-use permit for a nightclub operation, "defines very clearly what a nightclub is as opposed to a banquet facility, and where in the city you can have a nightclub."
A key provision states that no nightclub permits will be issued in the top 15 areas "having the highest number of police calls for criminal activity in a one-year time period."
The ordinance adds that "the city has received numerous and ongoing resident complaints regarding excessive noise (and) traffic," and that Waukegan police have documented "a marked increase in the number of police calls to those locations which are conducting the non-permitted nightclub use."
Deputy Police Chief Daniel Greathouse echoed that assessment for aldermen, telling the council that illegal nightclubs "truly are a problem ... There usually are problems at these events." He urged city administrators to work with the police department to review applications for nightclub permits as they come up.
Greathouse also said that "the number is going to be very important" in determining how many nightclubs can be in operation at any one time. The new measures limit the number of those in operation to five, but Tomlin noted that the Waukegan Development Commission recommended up to 15.
Cunningham said "five is not going to be enough. We're kidding ourselves with five." Officials discussed the possibility of expanding the number on a case-by-case basis, but five was the number approved in the revised zoning ordinance.
Other officials noted that there are at least five legal nightclubs currently operating in the city, including The Cove at Midlane Resort, San Luis Lounge on Green Bay Road and Basil's Lounge at the Waukegan Ramada Inn. The new Sundance Saloon, however, is defined as an entertainment facility.
Tomlin pointed out that all operations, even those that have been in compliance with existing ordinances, will have to apply for one of the new conditional use permits to continue operating as a nightclub.
"The permits will only be available to those with a proven track record of few problems," Tomlin said. "There has to be some perceived benefit to the city. Obviously, we want to provide entertainment options, but we have to weigh the benefits and the costs."
Voting against the revised ordinances were aldermen Greg Moisio (3rd) and Patrick Needham (7th), with Moisio saying he had "too many questions" that were not answered.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 29 October 2007 )
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