The Niles Plan Commission unanimously approved a special use permit for Foss Swim School
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, a Midwestern chain that offers swimming lessons for kids and adults.The school will be located at Four Flaggs Shopping Center, 8299 Golf Road. The space was most recently home to Archiver’s scrapbooking supplies store. It is expected to be open seven days a week, between 10:00 a.m and 7:00 p.m.
Now that the Plan Commission approved it, the school will need to receive final approval from the Niles Village Board. According to Bruce Sylvester, Niles’ senior planner, the board is expected to look at it during its Jan. 27 meeting. If the approval is granted, the school hopes to open by fall 2015.
Foss Swim School has been in business since 1993. It primarily offers lessons for kids ages 3-13. It also offers lessons for adults, as well as floating classes for toddlers. Students can either take weekly lessons or sign up for two-week and four-week “camps” – blocks of seven to eight lessons.
Most of Foss’ locations are in Minnesota, but in 2010, it started expanding into Chicagoland. Today, the school has locations in Highland Park, South Barrington, Libertyville and Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood.
Jon Foss, CEO of Foss Swim School, said there are several reasons why he chose Four Flaggs for a location.
“We looked at the Niles-Park Ridge-Glenview area and found that it’s a five-mile area where there isn’t a business quite like ours,” he said. “It’s near two major roads – Milwaukee Avenue and Golf Road. And there’s a good cross-section of businesses [in the mall].”
Foss also said that the swimming school has a good relationship with Inland Real Estate Corporation, which owns Four Flaggs, so their property was a natural choice for the Niles location.
Like any other private educational facility, the swim school must apply for a special use permit. The Plan Commission considered its application during the Jan 5 meeting.
In a report to the commission, Sylvester recommended that it approve the permit. He indicated that the swim school would need 50 parking spaces. The mall parking lot already has 28 parking spaces, and Sylvester recommended giving them 25 parking credits just to be on the safe side.
Nonetheless, several commissioners expressed concerns that there wouldn’t be enough parking. Sylvester responded that Four Flaggs has a variety of businesses, and that variety keeps the parking lots from getting too crowded.
“It is my belief that mixing types of businesses minimizes the chance that people will be coming at the same time,” he said.
When questioned by the commission, Foss said that he had his concerns about parking, but they’ve since been mollified.
“I’ve been [at the site] 12 times now, and I’ve never not been able to find a parking spot,” he said. “If I was near [the currently under construction Fresh Farms grocery store], I would be worried, but I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”
Dean Lev, director of construction and maintenance at Inland Real Estate, told the commission that his company doesn’t have any concerns about parking, either.
Commissioner Angelo Troiani expressed concerns about security.
Earlier during the meeting, Foss told the commission that the school wouldn’t have locker rooms – rather, it would have smaller changing rooms that families could use. Foss explained that the school tried conventional locker rooms, but found that there were issues when, for example, fathers came in with their daughters.
Troiani said that he was worried that this arrangement would leave personal belongings unsecured.
“We haven’t had thefts in our facilities for the last three years,” Foss replied. “Every family has to check in at the front desk. After a few weeks, our staff knows who everyone is.”
He added that three to four staffers are placed at the front desk to address security issues if the need arises.
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Foss told the commission that he hopes that the school will be a major draw for Four Flaggs.
“We want to get people to come to the mall,” he said. “Swimming lessons is something you can’t get online.”