Lake County Gazette

The village board members discuss the specifics of a possible temporary business license.

"We wanted to make sure that we did not compromise the success of businesses that have found that the outside service has been beneficial to them" Long Grove village manager Greg Jackson said. "I think that we also have come to learn that more and more people, even with COVID being on the downslide, are likely to dine outside more than they are inside. And it's not just during the summer, but we see it throughout the area where people are doing it in inclement weather."

Jackson brought a proposal to the village board regarding a temporary license for businesses that took advantage of the code exemptions for outdoor dining spaces during the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of the pandemic, a lot of spacing and zoning requirements were waived so that businesses and restaurants could have spaces outside without an outside service license or spaces. 

Because the board is anticipating that the governor will rescind those emergency declarations at some point and take away the exemptions, the village manager proposed a temporary license so that the businesses that are still utilizing the outdoor exemptions and surviving because of them would be able to continue even without being in full compliance. The manager suggested that the license, which would be good for a year, would give the businesses time to figure out a compliant way to continue outside without having to pause those operations and suffer financial losses. 

The trustees discussed some specifics of the temporary license, making sure that there was specific language in there for reporting to the village board, regulating hours and operations of the businesses as in typical business licenses, and a few additional requirements to ensure that the outdoor spaces would not be a disruption to the neighboring spaces. The board did vote to approve the proposal.