Lake County Gazette

At their Jan. 17 committee of the whole meeting, the village officials of Vernon Hills discussed a proposed business and special-use permit from Urban Air. The business is a children’s recreation and amusement park, and an adult training and fitness facility. The business would be located at 413 Milwaukee Ave. Unit 200. The special-use permit is needed because the business is requesting a restaurant and service area within its facility which will serve alcohol.

An attorney representing the SkyZone facility in the village spoke in the public comment section of the discussion. He said SkyZone's owner opposed the village granting the special-use permit on a couple of grounds: Urban Air not proving that there would be no injuries in its facilities, and that the facility – basically an identical use to Sky Zone – would be just a few doors down from the existing facility.

Village attorney James Ferolo said the board couldn't limit competition.

“And this standard at issue really goes to whether a use and its factors, its characteristics such as hours of operation, traffic, noise, odors, garbage, any kind of nuisance aspects of use would negatively impact the area surrounding this particular use,” Ferolo said. “It doesn't go to protecting competition within the village. And we got into this in the hearing a bit. The purpose of the zoning code isn't to limit competition. And the powers of these bodies, such as the Committee of the Whole, the Village Board, Planning and zoning, don't include protecting current uses from competition.”

Urban Air representatives made a presentation on its facilities and proposed business plan. They showcased a tentative floor plan that would make use of the additional square footage allowed if they were granted the special use permit. They also showed a map of all nearby Urban Air locations and what each facility offered in the Chicago area. 

The board members asked a couple questions of the petitioner regarding safety for some of their activities and some of the technical changes they would be making to the building. The board felt comfortable with all the proposed uses and the information that the petitioner had supplied to the village. They voted in favor of granting the special use permit to the proposed Urban Air facilities.