City Council Recap: Graffiti, Liquor Ordinance and Rice Lake Square

Residents victim to graffiti vandalism now have ten days to remove it from their property or they will face a $200 fine. The City Council approved an ordinance amendment Monday that reduces the time property owners have to remove graffiti from 30 days to ten days, and increases the fine of exceeding that time frame from $50 to $200.

Councilman Tom Mouhelis proposed the amendment, and said in a January meeting that most of the graffiti on buildings in Wheaton is gang-related. Once a gang puts their symbol on a wall, it implies that it is their “turf,” he said. “The last thing we need is to have this out here…ten days is ample time (to have it removed).”

Mouhelis said Monday that he originally proposed the amendment because of a case of graffiti on Blanchard Road, where it was very visible to the public, "that’s not the signal I want to send to the people of Wheaton,” he said.

Councilman Phil Suess proposed 15 days rather than ten before he proposed ten business days in the January meeting. “I don’t want a situation where the resident is the bad guy because they didn’t get it cleaned up in ten days, in an event of which they had no control,” he said.

Evelyn Pacino Sanguinetti addressed the council and commended Mouhelis in his work to execute the amendment. A few years ago, she said that people spray painted gang symbols and a swastika on a garage across the street from the Metra station at College Avenue. All the commuters, she said, had to see the garage everyday, and look at “one of the most hateful symbols known to man.”

“We had to see this for over 20 days,” she said. Keeping the graffiti on the garage that long, she said, “sends the message that we allow these sort of things to occur—not to mention how hard it is for police to get respect on the streets if we allow these things to stay there.”

Class 'R' liquor license

The City Council reviewed the proposed ordinance amendment to allow liquor to be sold in salons and spas in Wheaton. The ordinance would create a Class 'R' liquor license, which would offer the sale of beer and wine only, allowing no more than three drinks total per person.

Paul Fisher, owner of Studio 209, requested the ordinance amendment. “We’re not trying to make a profit,” he said. “It’s more a hospitality thing—and an equality thing.”

The application for the Class R license is $500, and the cost of the license is $750 annually, Fisher said. 

Rice Lake Square

The council also approved an ordinance amendment to grant a special use permit for a shopping center and movie theatre in Rice Lake Square/Danada Farms.  submitted the permit request on behalf of the owner of Rice Lake Square, , to make changes to the vehicular circulation of the parking lot in Rice Lake Square, add lighting and landscaping to the property. 

John Zoerner of Mid-America said Mid America was working on a couple of theater deals for Rice Lake Square in the January meeting. “They’re tough to do these days, but that is one of our focuses for that building—to get a theater or a mid-box user,” he said.

The City Council will vote on the liquor ordinance in its next regular meeting Feb. 21.