Lincolnshire’s leaders have passed on an opportunity to align their thinking with the state of Illinois’s new drinking laws.
The Village Board on Nov. 23 decided to keep its ban of happy hours at drinking establishments, making it one of only two nearby suburbs that aren’t aligning with a new state law that went into effect this summer.
Mayor Liz Brandt pointed out that she and the trustees can revisit the issue any time, since the beverage scene in Lincolnshire is changing. Brandt said the board will wait to see if requests for drink specials pile up.
Police Chief Peter Kinsey hopes they do not.
“I see this as a door-opener, and I see it widening further down the road,” Kinsey said. “It encourages people to drink more than they probably would, in a lesser period of time.”
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But trustee Dan Servi saw a constriction that might prompt Lincolnshire’s large daytime population to visit the parlors of neighboring suburbs after work.
“It’ll put us at a competitive disadvantage,” Servi said.
Happy hours had been closely regulated in much of Illinois since 1934. According to a new law that Gov. Bruce Rauner signed, since 1989, establishments have been able to post price specials for whole days, but nothing shorter. The law that went into effect in July, however, frees proprietors to offer specials for up to 15 hours per week — no more than four hours on one day, though, and not after 10 p.m.
Municipalities that want to keep them outlawed still have that power, though. Lincolnshire already had its own ordinance, which banned them completely. The Village Board opted during their last meeting to keep that ban in effect.
Kinsey recently surveyed the drinking laws of nine nearby municipalities, and found that several neighbors are going in Springfield’s direction: Libertyville, Vernon Hills, Mundelein and Buffalo Grove are adopting the state’s law, or already have. Lincolnshire’s only company in denying happy hours is Deerfield, which also had a code prohibiting them and plans to keep it, Kinsey said.
But, as Brandt pointed out, Lincolnshire can amend its own laws whenever it feels like it. Kinsey and village manager Brad Burke said they had not heard any demand from current or incoming proprietors for happy hours, but Brandt — also the village’s liquor commissioner — said she is open to considering requests.
“We can address this every six months, if we want to,” Brandt said. “Every three months.”
Twitter: @RonnieAtPioneer