Village trustees last week paved the way for easier access to alcohol in Oak Park in the coming months.
Loosened laws would include allowing restaurants to serve alcohol on weekends and holidays two hours earlier, starting at 9 a.m., in addition to giving eateries the ability to close the kitchen an hour early while still serving alcohol, and opening the door for alcoholic beverages to be served at bed and breakfasts.
The changes are yet to be finalized, as village hall’s law department will need to draft a new ordinance. But Village Clerk Teresa Powell hopes the new rules will go before the village board for final approval in the next few weeks.
Oak Park also plans to require that any employees at restaurants or stores who are involved in serving alcohol must go through Beverage Alcohol Sellers and Servers Educational Training (currently only owners and managers are asked to complete such training). The course takes 3-4 hours and teaches servers skills such as how to spot a fake ID or when a customer has been over-served.
“We’re not in a community that has a huge problem, currently, with DUIs or underage drinking at the restaurants,” Victoria Scaman, a member of the Liquor Control Review Board, told trustees last week. “But it does seem to be an appropriate message to send to our children simultaneously, that as adults we’re taking this extra step.”
The village is holding off on creating new licenses to allow microbreweries or brew pubs. Rather, village staff is going to set about crafting changes to its laws that would be kept on the backburner until someone actually proposes opening a brewery.
“Then it would be approved a little faster than if we had to start from scratch,” Powell said after the meeting.
As part of this recent round of changes, Oak Park is also considering allowing businesses with both restaurant and retail liquor sections — the Marion Street Cheese Market is the only holder of a D-12 license — to also sell locally produced liquors, rather than just beer and wine.
Oak Park had also considered opening the door for art galleries to sell drinks. Currently, such businesses are able to offer free wine and beer at art shows. But the village is waiting to see if anyone proposes selling drinks at a gallery before actually switching its rules.
The village board approved a similar round of changes back in July, including no longer requiring establishments to physically separate their lounge and restaurant areas. Tuesday’s revisions came after the Liquor Control Review Board held a public hearing earlier this year, and a Downtown Oak Park survey showed overwhelming support for laxer liquor laws.