Lake County Gazette

The Long Grove Village Board amended the local code during its March 28 meeting, voting to allow for special use permits for businesses and public events when the pandemic restrictions come to an end.

The board discussed special events at Brothers’ Field, an outdoor event space in Long Grove that hosts parties for Cinco de Mayo and also hosts special Tiki Bar nights. The facility has dancing concerts and movies shown throughout the summer as well. During the pandemic, however, events at Brothers' field had to be scaled back or changed, but now organizers are talking about operating on a full schedule of events this summer. The village board discussed special events licenses and liquor permits that would be needed to do so during the meeting.

"One of the things that they had requested was to be continuing their operations that have occurred during the pandemic during the 2023 season, if you will," Village attorney Victor Flippini said. "We've been doing this more or less on an ad hoc basis based on some of the emergency pandemic actions. With those coming to a close next month, we really didn't have a peg to hang our hat on for that. And so, what we are trying to do here is to provide some kind of peg that that activity can occur within the confines of our code."

Special outdoor events, permits and licenses typically are assigned on an individual basis depending on the event, but during the pandemic, the board tried to keep businesses open and afloat through whatever means available. The village doesn't currently have a business plan or code for a venue and operation like Brothers’ Field, so the board had to discuss how to create a permit that will allow events to be held at the field in the coming years. The board suggested a temporary special events venue permit for the summer season to keep the operations going while still under code, with a liquor license classification to go alongside it.

One concern voiced in the meeting involved the potentially long hours of operations and liquor consumption. For most events, the day begins at 10 a.m. and runs through midnight Friday and Saturday, and 6 p.m. Sundays, which was the suggestion of Brothers' Field owners. The board voted to amend the licenses to be cut off at 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights to respect the complaints of those in the area. Though the motion passed, the board added that venues will have to come back each year and apply for such license to be able to operate at the board’s discretion.