EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Ahead of Friday’s presumptive advancement to phase three of Restore Illinois, which will allow bars and restaurants to serve patrons outdoors, East Peoria City Council has passed a resolution to make provisions for establishments to serve alcohol outside.
Under the resolution, liquor license holders will need to apply for an outdoor service permit. The resolution provides a streamlined, expedited process for these applications to be approved.
Mayor John Kahl said the typical application that meets all requirements will be approved on the “same day, if not within 24 hours” of its submission.
After the measure passed by a unanimous 4-0 vote (Commissioner Dan Decker was not in attendance), Commissioner Mark Hill expressed satisfaction with the passage.
“We are fortunate to be able to get our businesses at least a little bit of a kickstart,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to eating out very soon.”
Commissioner Michael Sutherland concurred, albeit more emphatically.
“It’s overdue. This should have been done a long time ago,” he said.
“We have a gentleman at the head of the state who was born with a platinum spoon in his mouth who probably couldn’t manage a Dairy Queen on his own, and he’s telling us how to run the state and how to run my business. I’m p—– off and I’m tired of it,” he later added.
The resolution will be in effect until the North-Central Region of the state moves to a phase of Restore Illinois that allows for restaurants to serve patrons indoors at above 50% capacity.
The state’s official verbiage of phase four, “Revitalization,” says in that phase, restaurants and bars reopen, though it does not specify a capacity to which they could reopen.
East Peoria’s special outdoor serving permits will be free to establishments who obtain them.
