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Delavan acts on liquor licenses

DELAVAN — After two meetings, the Delavan City Council on Tuesday approved one liquor license, denied another and voted to do neither to a third.

The discussion will continue at two more meetings next week.

That will add up to seven meetings this month.

Here's the breakdown of the applications that were in question:

n The council voted 4-2 to neither approve nor deny the license application for Lake Lawn Resort, 2400 E. Geneva St., Delavan.

The license application had been in question because the resort owed the city more than $43,100 in penalties and payments. As of Tuesday, the resort had paid all the money it owed the city except for a list of invoices in question.

The amounts in question are in flux, Lake Lawn attorney Susan Sorrentino said. She would not give the Gazette a dollar amount.

Lake Lawn Resort still can serve alcohol, because its current application is good through Tuesday.

The council directed city staff to contact the professionals whose bills remain unpaid—mostly engineering and attorneys fees—and meet with Lake Lawn to keep talking about the disputed amounts.

The council will meet with Lake Lawn on Monday night. If the parties can't reach a resolution, Lake Lawn has the right to a hearing, which is already planned for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The resort also still owes $761,300 in property taxes to the county.

Alderman Dave Kilkenny moved to deny Lake Lawn's license, but the vote failed 3-2.

-- The council denied the liquor license for Delavan House Hotel, 215 E. Walworth Ave.

An Illinois bank foreclosed on the property in May. Midwest Hotels, Inc., owners of the hotel, owed $4.7 million on a $5 million mortgage, according to court documents.

The owners also owe the city of Delavan $3,000 in personal property tax and $33,500 in property tax, according to city documents.

Robert Slomczewski, a spokesman for Midwest Hotels, told the council Tuesday that his company is negotiating with the bank to get the property back. Work inside the building also is near completion, he said.

The hotel is not open for business at this time. Representatives of the hotel can appear at a hearing Tuesday to contest the denial.

-- The council voted unanimously to approve a license to Los Agaues Restaurant, 401 E. Walworth Ave., as long as the business pays $240 in personal property taxes owed the city by Tuesday. The tax was owed by the business's former owner.

The council previously had questioned the renewal of four other liquor licenses for a variety of taxes and penalties owed. Those four businesses had paid what they owed by Tuesday's meeting.

The businesses were Buena Vista, 239 E. Walworth Ave.; La Guanajuata, 233 E. Walworth Ave.; Comfort Suites, 313 Bauer Parkway and Latimer House, 523 E. Walworth Ave.