The Mundelein Village Board approved a business grant for Taco and Burrito Express at a recent meeting, which will provide the restaurant with more than $18,000 to build out a patio.
The board also approved drafting an ordinance that will rezone several residential homes in the Diamond Lake area, which caps off an effort that dates back several years from residents living off the lake.
During the Sept. 27 board meeting, Esmeralda Briceño, a representative of Taco and Burrito Express, located at 410 East Hawley Street, said she thought the business incentive grant would help the restaurant, given the financial impact as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. She said the addition of a patio would allow the owners to add 10 more tables outside, which would require more staffing.
“I feel like it’s something great for the community and something great for our business,” she said.
In total, the patio is expected to cost $36,250, with half that being covered by the village’s Business Incentive Grant program, village documents state. The B.I.G. Program covers up to half the cost of certain upgrades for businesses in town. According to a description of the program, it offers up to $5,000 for sign improvements and up to $25,000 for either interior or exterior improvements.
Some trustees at the meeting expressed being pleased with the grant being approved, saying they had been to the restaurant on numerous occasions. Both trustees Erich Schwenk and Kerston Russell said they had taken their wives there .
“I’m excited for the patio and what it’s gonna be in the future,” Schwenk said.
“I will be one of the first to have one of those Mundelein burritos on your patio,” Russell said.
Trustees also approved drafting an ordinance that will rezone 10 homes on Diamond Lake Road. The zoning, as it is currently, has been a long-standing concern of those in the area, and came back to focus during discussions about the village’s 2020 Comprehensive Plan last year.
The final version of the ordinance, if approved at a later meeting, will allow for rezoning the homes in question from lakefront mixed-use to single-family residential. This will allow residents to redevelop their homes if they choose to demolish it, according to village documents.
Currently, the zoning code protects residents’ rights to rebuild a single-family home if it has been destroyed in an accident or disaster, but not if they choose to demolish it themselves, as the code prohibits new single-family use from being developed, documents state.
Residents were also concerned about those homes being used for things other than a single-family house.
Gail Becke, the resident who spearheaded a list of concerns last year regarding the village’s comprehensive plan, was in attendance at the meeting and thanked the board and village for their work on the rezoning plan.
“This has been a long struggle since 2010 up until now,” Becke said at the meeting. “I’m hoping for forward momentum.”