UPDATE 9:14 p.m.: As expected, a village staff report issued this afternoon seeks to prohibit pawnshops and other selected businesses in the downtown district. Click here for more details.
Businesses that at one time were considered desirable to have in downtown La Grange no longer are, while other businesses that once were viewed as undesirable are now encouraged, Village President Elizabeth Asperger said Monday night in explaining why village officials this afternoon will recommend changes to the types of uses permitted and prohibited under the C-1 zoning ordinance that applies to the central business district.
Asperger cited gas stations as a type of business once welcomed downtown by the village but now prohibited. While she did not give an example of a once undesirable business category that is now embraced by the community, restaurants that offer beer, wine or a cocktail with meals would seem to qualify. Whereas temperance was high on the list of principles espoused by La Grange's founding father, Franklin Dwight Cossitt, today's town boosters proudly promote the downtown as a dining destination, something that only became possible after the village lifted its century-old prohibition on serving alcohol by the glass.
As to the types of businesses that likely will rise in favor or fall from grace when the staff report is released later today, Asperger Monday night cited only one: pawnshops, which now appear to be on a fast track for the ban list.
"The possibility of a pawnshop locating in our central business has caused us to accelerate our review of the permitted uses and special uses in the C-1 district," Asperger said, explaining that an overhaul of the village's commercial zoning ordinances was long overdue.
The reason why village officials are putting the pedal to the metal on C-1 zoning changes right now is that seeing a pawnshop open in downtown is not merely possible. One is scheduled to open next month, right next to Village Hall in the storefront formerly occupied by Hollywood Video.
In fact, All-Star Jewelry & Loan already has its business license. The village issued it last month to Andy Grayson of Berwyn, who for the past several years has managed a pawnshop in North Riverside. Asperger herself signed the license.
A copy of a letter Grayson said he mailed May 2 to Pat Benjamin, the village's director of community development, inquiring about opening his own business in La Grange was explicitly clear. "I am requesting a license for a pawnshop," the letter states.
Asperger Monday night said that since pawnshops were a permitted use when Grayson submitted his application, his license was "issued in a somewhat routine matter."
Pawnshops were not always allowed in downtown La Grange, Asperger said. As recently as the 1970s they were specifically prohibited, but when the commercial zoning code was last overhauled in 1981, the village threw out the old lists of uses that were allowed and those that were not, substituting a new system of categories based on standard industry classifications (SIC), she explained.
One SIC covers resale and consignment shops, which would include pawnshops, Asperger said. Apparently, village officials back in 1981 were ready to prohibit the whole category until the Community Nurses Association warned that doing so would put their used furniture shop out of business, so the whole SIC instead went into the zoning code as a permitted use.
An exception could have been made at that time to specifically prohibit pawnshops, Asperger said. But as there were none, the issue was never raised.
"It pretty much fell through the crack," Asperger said. "It simply was a mistake that was not picked up in the revision to the code at that time." Thus, the village had no choice last month but to issue Grayson a license for his pawnshop.
But when residents attending the Pet Parade May 30 saw signs in the storefront at 71 S La Grange Rd announcing a July opening for All-Star Jewelry & Loan, many of them prayed it was a mistake.
Some downtown business owners, including Michael LaPidus of Roly Poly Sandwiches, described the perceived threat of a pawnshop coming to town in far more apocalyptic terms.
In a widely circulated email to business owners and community leaders, LaPidus, who also is president of the La Grange Business Association (LGBA) wrote that a pawnshop "does not bring the shoppers and consumers we need to fill our stores and restaurants [...] devalues the progress this village and business community has made over the last decade to make La Grange a top 10 downtown in Chicago [...] will in fact have a long term reverberating affect on our property values, both residential and business [and] does not compliment the businesses and restaurants we have in town and will never, no matter how 'upscale' it looks be a business others will look at positively when starting or relocating to La Grange."
LaPidus summoned the email's recipients to a June 11 meeting of the LGBA in order to plan a "vigorous fight" to prevent the pawnshop from opening.
One person LaPidus did not invite to the meeting was Grayson, who later said, "I would have loved to attend." Grayson believes that if his soon-to-be neighbors understood the caliber of pawnshop he intends to open, they would embrace him, not try to run him out of town.
Most visitors to his shop would find themselves in a well-lit, attractive showroom that sells primarily high-end estate jewelry, he said. All pawn activity would occur in a booth behind the showroom out of sight to shoppers.
Asperger said Grayson did receive a formal invitation to attend the June 29 meeting of the village plan commission, which must review any proposed changes to the zoning codes before forwarding its recommendations to the village board for final consideration and possible approval.
"We cannot make any assumptions at this point in time regarding the outcome of the process," Asperger said Monday. But just in case pawnshops end up on ban list, the village attorney, Mark Burkland, has notified Grayson's attorney that any such a change "could be applied" to his business, Asperger said.
"I should note that the issuance of a business license to a proposed tenant does not impact the village's authority to move forward with the review process," she said.
Asperger skipped over any details about how village officials apparently never mentioned to Grayson their plans to overhaul the C-1 zoning until after he received his business license. Perhaps it is because their plans became immediate only after LaPidus and others raised a ruckus.
Grayson said the reason he chose to locate his business in La Grange is that he believed he had the blessing of Village Hall. When he submitted his application, Benjamin "personally came to the counter, shook my hand, looked me in the eyes, told me absolutely that pawnshops were allowed and told me he was excited about my store," Grayson said. Benjamin normally attends village board meetings but was absent Monday night.
With village officials apparently pulling an about-face, Grayson now is concerned that his request for the building permit he needs to construct the interior of his store won't be received as graciously.
That issue was addessed Monday night by Shawn Temple of Belcaster Realty, who said he represents Grayson's landlords, John and Lawrence Brannen. In remarks made to trustees during a portion of the meeting set aside for public comment, Temple said that Grayson expects his building permit to be issued "with the same efficient response he received previously, and looks forward to a long and prosperous relationship in La Grange."
When the staff recommendations are released this afternoon, Grayson is not likely to find a love letter in the document. But the June 29 hearing before the plan commission, where any and everyone is allowed to make a case for or against any of the proposed zoning changes, more likely than not will indicate the true direction in which this affair is headed.
Click here to view a video of Asperger's remarks.
Click here to view a video of Temple's remarks to trustees.
Related stories:
Here is a 6/29/09 Tribune article on this issue -- http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-lagrange-pawn-shopjun29,0,5830763.story.
Posted by: Tom Scaletta | June 28, 2009 at 10:59 PM