Planning Board Recommends 'No' Vote for Aveda Salon in Downtown Wheaton

The planning and zoning board has recommended against allowing an Aveda salon in downtown and Wheaton Mayor Mike Gresk said Friday it would be “highly unusual” for City Council to override that.

In 1998, a zoning ordinance was enacted against new hair salons as a permitted use in the downtown's C-2 district because there were so many of them in the core retail area. On Oct. 11 the planning board recommended against Aveda's request to set up shop downtown. On Nov. 7, the City Council is expected to consider the recommendation. 

Aveda's petition was discussed by the planning and zoning board on Sep. 27 and Oct. 11. Concern was expressed that if an Aveda salon opens downtown, more salons would follow.

The ordinance in question refers to the city’s C-2 Zoning District, which lies east of Wheaton Avenue between Wesley and Front streets and ends just west of Cross Street, with a pocket near Hale Street that crosses the train tracks and Liberty Drive (see map).

Stacy Jones, a staff planner for the city, said Sep. 27 that while the staff would not support a change to the ordinance that would allow hair stylists as a permitted downtown use, the planning board could consider an individual exception for Aveda.

The board voted against both options—permitted and special use—on Oct. 11 after hearing from a number of interested parties, including an Aveda corporate representative, the applicant who would operate the local salon, support from the president of the Downtown Wheaton Association, and downtown business owners who expressed concern about the competition Aveda would represent.

Aveda sells products in nearly 7,000 hair salons and spas in 24 countries. Aveda representative Sharon Nykaza on Oct. 11 told planning board members that although Aveda would have stylists, the business in Wheaton would follow a “retail model first and service model second,” adding that 45 to 65 percent of its business would come from the sale of products in its early years of operation.

Nykaza said “strong brand equity” would draw consumers to downtown Wheaton.

“Wheaton would get a direct link to an international brand with a strong presence in North America, Europe and Asia … It would also link Wheaton to other high-end retail shopping districts such as Oak Brook, Schaumburg and Evanston,” she said.

Wheaton resident Danielle Jostes, of the 700 block of Carlton Street, told board members she is a loyal Aveda client who goes to the salons in other communities because Wheaton doesn’t have one. She added that as a resident she would much rather spend her money at an Aveda salon in Wheaton.

Anthony Segretto spoke against the proposed amendment on behalf of his parents, who own Zazu Salon and Day Spa, 133 Main St. He said while his parents “welcome competition,” they feel the downtown area is “over-saturated with hairstylists.”

Wheaton City Staff Planner Tracy Jones said that there are currently 10 hair salons/barber shops in Wheaton's C-2 zoning district.

Planning and zoning board member Mark Sargis said he thinks competition is good.

“You want diversity. That’s what makes a downtown strong,” he said.

Keven Graham, president of the board of the Downtown Wheaton Association, told board members he sympathized with the challenges posed by the issue.

“We are very supportive of new businesses in the downtown. It is a challenging market, it is a challenging economic time for our property owners (downtown),” he said.

“As we understand it, they’ve proposed a significant retail component and I think that’s something that’s advantageous to downtown,” said Graham. “As a special use to be considered, I think bringing in that component and tax base to downtown is desirable.”

Roy Millonzi, who would operate the business in Wheaton, has been with Aveda for the past five years as the owner of Namasté in downtown Glen Ellyn.

Aveda has identified downtown Wheaton as an opportunity, Millonzi told the board. 

“We want to move forward and are zeroed in on two specific locations, but we can’t do anything on that front until this is resolved,” he said. “Special use seems to be the common-sense approach to this.”

If the ordinance itself were changed to allow hair stylists as a permitted use downtown, the “extreme potential” is for the 17 current downtown retail vacancies to become salons, planning board member Patricia Schwarze said.

Laura Christensen, chairwoman of the board, said she thinks people in Wheaton would like to see more retail downtown. Having too many hair stylists would “fill space that could have been left available for retail uses,” she said.

Planning board member Neil Pollock said supporting a special or permitted use for Aveda would not be in line with the city’s comprehensive long-range plan.

“If we go in here and start screwing around with the zoning map … you might as well take the thing and toss it,” he said.

“Special use permits represent something that’s a response to a unique or unusual set of circumstances—I think they’re looked at upon merit and I think we should be very careful with special use permits,” he said.

Schwarze said while she thinks the city has been ineffective in denying special use permits, she predicts the City Council will be “willing to say no” to the special use permit in the Nov. 7 meeting.

Mayor Gresk said that the planning and zoning board’s recommendation will be “tough to override” for the City Council.

“We take boards very seriously,” said Gresk. “They do the legwork on this."

“I’m glad there’s that recognized retailer interested (in opening a business) in Wheaton, but we do have our rules,” Gresk said. 

The board's recommendation will be on the City Council agenda for the meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7 at City Hall.

Editor's note:

CORRECTION: A super-majority vote will not be needed in the Nov. 7 City Council meeting.

This article was edited and rewritten at 12:40 p.m. Monday with no significant changes to its content.