Despite complicated council vote, longtime haunted house returning to Elgin

The Elgin City Council approved a plan for Evil Intentions Haunted House to return to the city, despite having to perform some lengthy procedural gymnastics on the dais that one council member described as “embarrassing.”

The haunted house, which was located in the former Elgin Casket Co. building off Bluff City Boulevard for almost 20 years before moving to Maple Park two years ago, hopes to open in time for the season this year in the former Heider Electric Co.

The five-story, 21,000-square-foot building at 80 N. State St., north of Highland Avenue, has been “largely vacant and underutilized for many years,” according to city documents.

Evil Intentions will initially operate for six weeks a year from late September through the first week of November, but hopes to phase in other elements, including possible escape rooms and a bar that could be open year-round.

The haunted house will be open from 7 to 10 p.m. on Thursdays and Sundays and 7 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Evil Intentions would run shuttles from the Fulton Street parking deck downtown to accommodate visitor parking. Community Development Director Marc Mylott said 75% of guests were expected to use the shuttle system because prepurchased tickets, which guarantee a time window, require guests to park remotely.

Mylott said city staff would meet with the business annually before each season to determine “what city parking facility or facilities may or may not be available.”

“I am really excited about this project, maybe a little bit too excited,” council member Tish Powell said. “I think it’s a really neat adaptive reuse of this property that has been vacant and underutilized for far too long in our community.”

While the council enthusiastically and unanimously approved a conditional use permit for the business, the optimistic tone of the conversation took a turn before a second agenda item giving final approval to an ordinance went up for a vote.

An amendment proposed by council member Anthony Ortiz would “sunset” the parking agreement at the Fulton Street deck after three years, requiring Evil Intentions to explore private parking options. It would not inhibit the current arrangement from continuing if they showed they were unable to find a suitable alternative.

That motion passed 5-4, with yes votes from Dustin Good, Rose Martinez, Ortiz, Steve Thoren and Mayor David Kaptain. The new amendment meant the ordinance would have to be rewritten and brought back at the next council meeting in three weeks for final approval, putting pressure on the business’s already tight timeline to open in September.

While Mylott said the delay wouldn’t stop them from issuing a building permit, broker Berk Arslan, who has been working with Evil Intentions owner Mike Fitzpatrick on the development, said the uncertainty created risks for the business.

“If we wait two plus weeks for another approval … then he takes a huge investment and gamble to hope that this gets approved,” Arslan said.

Council member Diana Alfaro called the amendment “overreach” and said it was a pattern of “barriers and more barriers that we keep continuing to put on businesses that we don’t need to put on businesses.”

Powell said she was “disappointed” in the process, saying they were punishing a proven business commodity that was trying to reopen in the city “and we are doing this nonsense.

“This is embarrassing. This is embarrassing,” she said. “This is a level of redundancy that is unnecessary.”

Ultimately, the council worked around the delay, voting 8-1 to adopt the ordinance with the new unwritten-but-approved amendment included. Alfaro was the lone ‘no,’ apologizing but saying she couldn’t vote yes on something that wasn’t in writing.

Afterward, council member Corey Dixon apologized to the business for the entire episode.

“Definitely, definitely not a good look,” he said.