Retail-only areas pared in Vernon Hills

Vernon Hills trustees informally have agreed to reduce the number of commercial areas subject to a ban on non-retail uses.

The board two weeks ago approved a six-month moratorium on filling vacancies in designated areas along Route 60 and Milwaukee Avenue with anything other than uses that produced sales tax revenue.

But concern from some property owners and the possibility of ensuing lawsuits has prompted the village board to modify the boundaries.

Assistant Village Manager John Kalmar told trustees during a work session Wednesday that 95 percent of sales tax was generated by businesses near the Milwaukee/Route 60 intersection.

"This is the area that provides us revenue and allows us to provide services to our residents," he said.

Wanting to protect its commercial base, village leaders enacted a moratorium that prohibited ground-floor vacancies from being filled with anything other than users that produce sales tax revenue.

"It's not that we don't like hair salons, insurance and doctors' offices, but we don't collect any revenue and we don't put a municipal property tax on anything," Mayor Roger Byrne said.

But in the tough economy, building owners want to fill their vacancies "with any type of use that will function well in their centers," Kalmar said.

Trustees agreed some areas, such as the Vernon Hills Town Center at Route 45 and Milwaukee and the Aspen Pointe shopping area near Route 60 and Butterfield Road, could be dropped from the designated areas.

A small commercial area north of the College of Lake County, as well as an area north of Route 60 at Lakeview Parkway, also were dropped.

Trustees agreed to exempt the former Tweeter building, 700 East Townline Road (Route 60), which is being renovated to accommodate a Verizon Wireless store and Qdoba Mexican Grill. The former Circuit City, 551 N. Milwaukee Ave., also was exempted. Irgens Development Partners LLC plans to convert the space, which has been vacant more than a year, to a multi-tenant medical building.

Both buildings remain in the moratorium area, but construction or plans were in progress before that was enacted.

Trustees supported a suggestion that non-retail vacancies be allowed to be filled with like uses during the moratorium period.