New Ordinance Paves Way for More Live Entertainment

An uptick of guitar rifts, vocal melodies and music of all kinds could soon be drifting through Glen Ellyn eateries, restaurants and shops. 

A new ordinance passed unanimously by the Village Board this week makes it easier for businesses to obtain a permit for live entertainment, and several local entrepreneurs have expressed their approval.

"It leaves me more open to the opportunity to do things," said Linda Treadway, the owner of dessertz on Crescent Boulevard. "It might bring more people in, not just local people but people from other communities. Glen Ellyn needs that."

 Staci Hulseberg, director of the Glen Ellyn planning and development department, said that under the old ordinance, restaurants were permitted to have live entertainment twice a year. If businesses wanted more live entertainment than that, or if businesses that were not restaurants wanted to have live entertainment, business owners needed to apply for a special use permit in a process that took three to six months. Business owners needed approval for the permits from the Plan Commission and the Village Board, and the whole process cost them $800 to $1,000 dollars.

Under the new ordinance, the permit process has been streamlined. The application will take two weeks and cost $150. The process would be done through the planning and development department, meaning business owners would not have to go before the Village Board for approval. The new administrative permits, which are valid for three years, are open to anyone that wants live entertainment in his or her venue.

The new permits do have parameters. Music and live entertainment must be held completely indoors and it can't take up more than 25 percent of the total space. The entertainment can run until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursdays and until 1 a.m. Fridays, Saturdays and New Year's Eve.

The proposal for the new permit process was first recommended by the Transitional Downtown Advisory Committee as part of a downtown strategic plan, completed last year "to promote more cultural and entertainment uses in the downtown," Hulseburg said. 

Village President Mark Pfefferman called the ordinance a "relatively easy way" the Board could make help support local businesses and encourage people to enjoy more local live music and entertainment.

"I'm pretty excited about it," he said. "Businesses can bring more people in and generate a kind of buzz."

For some business owners like Jerry Hernandez, the proprietor Ellyn's Tap and Grill on Roosevelt, the new process came a little too late. Hernandez obtained his live entertainment permit earlier this year via the older, longer method.

"I wish it would've been easier for me," he said. "It did take a little longer than I thought it would. I just wanted to have an acoustic guy play some music, and I was thinking, 'What's the big deal?'"

He said the new process "sounds great," though he also pointed out that the old process did grant him the live entertainment permit for the site's perpetuity.           

Tracey Kreiling, president of Bells & Whistles Snackery on Main, also went through the old process to get a live entertainment permit but said she didn't feel like it was too much of a hassle because she had studied the process beforehand and had her paperwork ready.

She lauded other businesses who had already gone through the effort and expense to get live entertainment permits but also said that with the less arduous permit process, she looks "forward to any efforts on the part of downtown businesses to drive traffic into town and dollars into our registers so we can continue to offer products." 

Aside from a potential for increased customer traffic, business owners say live entertainment brings variety to Glen Ellyn's atmosphere.

"When you dim the lights, it gives it a different feel," said Hernandez, of Ellyn's. "The jukebox is nice, but it's just nice sometimes to relax and listen to some actual live music."