Elgin hair salon wins appeal to city council in effort to add bar, video gambling
A hair salon in Elgin cleared a hurdle this week in its effort to add a bar and video gambling machines after a parking variation request had been shot down by the city’s planning and zoning commission in July.
The Elgin City Council on Wednesday approved an appeal by the owners of Casa de Estilos, which they filed after zoning commissioners denied a required parking variation request.
Casa de Estilos sought the parking variation so it could seek permission to convert part of its existing building at 301 Dundee Ave. into a bar with six video gambling terminals. The space would be intended only as an amenity for salon customers waiting for services.
By code, having a bar would require the business to have 30 parking spaces. The existing property has a 14-space parking lot with nine on-street parking spaces nearby.
Salon owner Oscar Zamudio submitted a parking analysis to the commission showing that even at peak parking demand on late Friday afternoons, no more than 18 spaces would be needed.
Despite a city staff recommendation that said the application met all eight of Elgin’s applicable requirements and standards, the planning and zoning commission voted 4-3 on July 6 to reject the motion.
On Wednesday, Community Development Director Marc Mylott told the council the business, which has been in operation since 1988, wants to add amenities to separate itself from competing salons.
“It bears repeating, this bar would not be an independent destination,” Mylott said. “It would only be open when the salon is, and (it would have) no signage.”
Zamudio said the bar would offer a small selection of beer and wine as well as coffee drinks but no hard liquor. It likely wouldn’t attract anyone other than existing customers to the salon. Hours would mirror the salon, which is open seven days a week and takes appointments from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. most days.
“We might not serve a beer during the day at all,” he said. “It’s not going to be a sit-down, have a beer and watch a football game for three hours (kind of place).”
Zamudio added if parking becomes an issue, they could add another eight spaces by expanding into an adjacent empty lot they own.
The council unanimously approved the appeal, with the condition that Zamudio commit to expanding his parking lot should available spaces become an issue.
Council member Corey Dixon was among those who thanked Zamudio for sticking it out through the appeal process.
“A lot of businesses will get to that point and just say ‘you know, it’s not going to happen,’ but you persevered,” he said.
The business still needs to seek approval for both a liquor license and the gambling terminals.
rwest@dailyherald.com