Batavia pub gets OK for video gambling, despite being next to two churches

Gammon Coach House pub in Batavia will be allowed to have video gambling machines, despite being next to two churches.

The Batavia City Council approved a conditional-use permit Monday night after a lengthy debate about whether the business is too close to Bethany Lutheran Church and First Congregational Church of Batavia.

The council voted 8-6 to approve the measure, with aldermen Tony Malay, Alice Lohman, Dustin Pieper, Leah Leman, Kevin Malone and Abby Beck voting “no.”

Malay is a member of First Congregational. The church operates a preschool in the part of its building closest to Gammon Coach House, and its youth group also meets and worships in that portion of the building, he said.

Bethany Lutheran has the Bethany Ministry Center in a former elementary school about 10 feet away from Gammon Coach House. Boy and Girl Scout troops meet in it. It also rents out space to Elderday Center and Mutual Ground domestic-violence counseling service.

State law requires video gambling establishments to be at least 100 feet away from a religious-use building, according to a memo to the Batavia Plan Commission.

Jon With, co-owner of Gammon Coach House, said the revenue from video gambling is needed for the business to survive.

The state gaming board initially denied a state license, but the owners appealed. The board reversed its decision July 31 after determining that the machines would be in a part of the business far enough away from First Congregational, according to the memo. That’s because the machines will be in the original coach house building, which is more than 100 feet away from the church building, as opposed to an addition, which is just 75 feet away and separated from the main part by a firewall.

The state board did not indicate why it did not consider the Bethany Ministry Center to be a religious building, the memo said.

City staff said Monday the board has denied the city’s Freedom of Information Act requests for any records detailing its reasoning.

Malone proposed delaying the vote on the permit and sending the matter back to the Plan Commission for further investigation into the issue of proximity and the religious uses of the ministry center.

Mayor Jeff Schielke cast a rare tie-breaking “no” vote on that motion. Schielke said he favored letting the business have video gambling.