Kane County Reporter

The Sugar Grove village board discussed allowing video game cafes in the village at its Nov. 15 meeting.

"Video gaming cafes do require a liquor license," Brent Eichelberger, administrator of Sugar Grove, told the board. "So even before ... it's not necessary that you have to create any zoning or anything. But basically, we have told all interested parties – and we do continue to get them on a regular basis, I don’t know if it’s quite monthly but if not close to it – where people contact us asking to do a video gaming cafe in the village. In fact, we tell them at this time the board has said no to video game cafes."

The village board currently has not allowed video game cafes in the village, though there have been plenty of requests for them, due to an issue with having to adjust liquor licenses for them. The board has also been wary of these types of institutions due to the bright lights they normally have, the saturation of nearby municipalities, and there were a few break-in attempts at new cafes in the area when they first began. 

The board members discussed their concerns over the type of business that comes with video game cafes. While they are interested in bringing new businesses to the village and creating more revenue for the community, there have been far too many examples in the surrounding area of poor or bare minimum facilities for the trustees to not be wary of allowing any in the village. 

They board decided to be open to any new requests that came in within certain parameters. It talked about how putting them in an empty unit in a strip mall would be beneficial as it would provide more requirements and oversight on the business. For the vacancies that are currently in the village, they decided to prioritize other businesses before any gaming cafes.