Buffalo Grove's eSkape may add dance area
Buffalo Grove Police Chief Steve Balinski warned the village board Monday that adding a proposed dance area at the eSkape Entertainment Center could attract trouble - especially from gangs and drugs.
The meeting included a public hearing on the proposal, which would convert an area currently used for laser tag into a 3,500-square-foot dance club. The entertainment center at 350 McHenry Road would offer dancing for patrons 21 and older on Fridays, and for guests 17 and older on Saturdays.
Balinski told the board he'd spoken with police departments in surrounding towns that have - or have had - similar dance clubs, including Schaumburg, Palatine and Des Plaines. Problems for those towns included underage drinking, drugs, gang activity and criminal damage to property.
While the entertainment center currently has a bar area, Balinski is concerned adding a dance club will change the clientele and bring new problems like the other towns had, he said.
"That's very concerning to this police department," Balinski said.
Bill Feldgreber, managing partner of eSkape, said Balinski was comparing apples to oranges. He said the clubs in Des Plaines and Schaumburg now are closed, and clubs still open - such as Zero Gravity in Naperville - are five or six times larger than the proposed facility. Felgreber also emphasized that on nights when customers younger than 21 are admitted, no one in the dance area, even if they are 21 or older, will be served alcohol.
Buffalo Grove residents who attended the meeting, including local activist Rob Sherman, seemed to support Feldgreber's proposal.
"I want a place for the good kids to gather and have a good time," Sherman said, adding Feldgreber has been an exemplary businessman.
The village board also got a unique perspective from Buffalo Grove and Stevenson High School students attending the meeting to prepare for an upcoming civics forum.
David Bruk of Stevenson High School has been to similar dance clubs in California; he shared the police chief's concern about the entertainment center's clientele changing. He's concerned about the club attracting youth from neighboring towns who might be involved with drugs and alcohol and ready to cause trouble.
"If some kids were to get kicked out, they're not going to go to their cars and go back where they came from," Bruk said.
Another Stevenson student, Bjorn Schwarzenbach, was more supportive of the idea. He said he has attended dance clubs in Germany and mentioned the benefits of added jobs and tax money.
"You have to look at the economic value of the establishment," he said.
The board will hold another public hearing on the plan and vote on it at a later date.
• Staff writer Melynda Findlay contributed to this report