Fox Lake shuts down rental units over code violations

Another Fox Lake rental unit has been shut down due to excessive building and life-safety code violations, village officials said.

Mayor Ed Bender said property owners of eight rental units attached to the now-closed Aquarium Bar and Grill at 139 Arthur Ave. have been cited for more than 65 building and life-safety code violations.

Building commissioner Bill Hart said the property owner has 30 days to repair the units, or the tenants will be evicted and the property declared uninhabitable.

"The property owners have been renting the units out without a building inspection since 2004," Hart said. "If they had an inspection in the last five years, we would have recommended to not rent the units until repairs were made to bring the building up to code."

Attempts to reach the property owners were unsuccessful Tuesday.

Bender said each unit has 8 to 13 violations, with another 17 violations on the outside of the facility. The violations include exposed wiring, plumbing issues, substandard living areas and litter strewed throughout the buildings. He said those would need to be repaired before a new license is issued.

"We are putting a stop to this type of thing, for sure," Bender said. "One of the promises I made when I was elected was to clean up the town. This is part of that."

The units sit above and to the side of the Aquarium Bar and Grill, which has been closed for about three months due to a dispute between the property owner and the former business license holder, Bender said.

He would not detail the dispute that closed the legendary bar where people could buy and gulp down a live minnow.

Village officials said the business and liquor licenses were turned in by the previous business owners, and currently, no paperwork has been filed to reopen the establishment. The latest shut down comes after the Marina Motel was closed Oct. 2 when more than 60 building code violations were discovered in the Route 12 facility. The motel was given a surprise inspection after a disabled man was discovered living in squalor in one of the units.

The motel is due for another inspection and could officially reopen Nov. 2, but only if the building code violations are completely repaired.