Joliet moves closer to more beer, gambling at gas stations

A Joliet City Council committee has given preliminary approval to new city liquor licenses for beer, wine and gambling at gas stations.

The gambling license would be limited to two stations: one that has it now and one that successfully appealed to the state liquor commission to get it.

“The gas station owners are salivating at the prospect of getting gaming,” Assistant City Attorney Chris Regis told the Land Use and Legislative Committee on Wednesday. “We are going to be inundated with these type of proposals.”

Regis suggested the city could also put geographical restrictions on gaming licenses for gas stations. But the committee approved his original proposal for a citywide limit of two.

The proposed ordinance for a liquor license for sales of packaged beer and wine has no restriction on how many would be issued.

“We’re not talking about hard liquor sales at gas stations,” Regis said. “It’s limited to beer and wine.”

The gaming license would allow beer and wine consumption in an area of the gas station separated off to prevent access by minors.

Joliet generally prohibits sale of packaged beer and wine at gas stations.

An exception was made a year ago when the City Council in a controversial vote approved a liquor license that also allowed video gaming at a new Thorntons station in exchange for the company’s contribution of more than $300,000 to fund the relocation of a 19th-century house on the construction site.

The Casseday House can be seen at its new location near the corner of Youngs Avenue and East Jackson Street on Tuesday, Mar. 24, 2020, in Joliet, Ill.

When the city later rejected a request for liquor and gaming license for the Mobil station at Broadway and Theodore streets, owner Terry Lambert appealed to the Illinois State Liquor Commission and won late last year.

Thorntons and Lambert would get the two liquor and gaming licenses Joliet issues.

Lambert was able to win his case with the state commission in part because no limit was set on such licenses previously, said his attorney, James Murphy.

“When we get into the area or liquor licenses, it’s a very strange area of the law,” Murphy said. “One of the ways that municipalities have found to limit them is to limit the number of licenses. At the time Terry appealed, the city had not used that.”

The city has not issued a liquor or gaming license to Lambert yet.

“We’re working on resolving that,” Murphy said.

The proposed city liquor licenses for packaged liquor at gas stations and liquor with gaming at gas stations next go to the full City Council for approval.

Regis said the new liquor licenses are designed to resolve the Lambert case.