235 ILCS 5/6-11 — Illinois Code / Chapter 235 / Act 5 / Section 6-11
Section 6-11
Status: in_force

(235 ILCS 5/6-11) Sec. 6-11. Sale near churches, schools, and hospitals. (a) No license shall be issued for the sale at retail of any alcoholic liquor within 100 feet of any church, school other than an institution of higher learning, hospital, home for aged or indigent persons or for veterans, their spouses or children or any military or naval station, provided, that this prohibition shall not apply to hotels offering restaurant service, regularly organized clubs, or to restaurants, food shops or other places where sale of alcoholic liquors is not the principal business carried on if the place of business so exempted is not located in a municipality of more than 500,000 persons, unless required by local ordinance; nor to the renewal of a license for the sale at retail of alcoholic liquor on premises within 100 feet of any church or school where the church or school has been established within such 100 feet since the issuance of the original license. In the case of a church, the distance of 100 feet shall be measured to the nearest part of any building used for worship services or educational programs and not to property boundaries. (a-5) Notwithstanding any provision of this Section to the contrary, a local liquor control commissioner may grant an exemption to the prohibition in subsection (a) of this Section if a local rule or ordinance authorizes the local liquor control commissioner to grant that exemption. (b) Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the issuance of a retail license authorizing the sale of alcoholic liquor to a restaurant, the primary business of which is the sale of goods baked on the premises if (i) the restaurant is newly constructed and located on a lot of not less than 10,000 square feet, (ii) the restaurant costs at least $1,000,000 to construct, (iii) the licensee is the titleholder to the premises and resides on the premises, and (iv) the construction of the restaurant is completed within 18 months of July 10, 1998 (the effective date of Public Act 90-617). (c) Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the issuance of a retail license authorizing the sale of alcoholic liquor incidental to a restaurant if (1) the primary business of the restaurant consists of the sale of food where the sale of liquor is incidental to the sale of food and the applicant is a completely new owner of the restaurant, (2) the immediately prior owner or operator of the premises where the restaurant is located operated the premises as a restaurant and held a valid retail license authorizing the sale of alcoholic liquor at the restaurant for at least part of the 24 months before the change of ownership, and (3) the restaurant is located 75 or more feet from a school. (d) In the interest of further developing Illinois' economy in the area of commerce, tourism, convention, and banquet business, nothing in this Section shall prohibit issuance of a retail license authorizing the sale of alcoholic beverages to a restaurant, banquet facility, grocery store, or hotel having not fewer than 150 guest room accommodations located in a municipality of more than 500,000 persons, notwithstanding the proximity of such hotel, restaurant, banquet facility, or grocery store to any church or school, if the licensed premises described on the license are located within an enclosed mall or building of a height of at least 6 stories, or 60 feet in the case of a building that has been registered as a national landmark, or in a grocery store having a minimum of 56,010 square feet of floor space in a single story building in an open mall of at least 3.96 acres that is adjacent to a public school that opened as a boys technical high school in 1934, or in a grocery store having a minimum of 31,000 square feet of floor space in a single story building located a distance of more than 90 feet but less than 100 feet from a high school that opened in 1928 as a junior high school and became a senior high school in 1933, and in each of these cases if the sale of alcoholic liquors is not the principal business carried on by the licensee. For purposes of this Section, a "banquet facility" is any part of a building that caters to private parties and where the sale of alcoholic liquors is not the principal business. (e) Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the issuance of a license to a church or private school to sell at retail alcoholic liquor if any such sales are limited to periods when groups are assembled on the premises solely for the promotion of some common object other than the sale or consumption of alcoholic liquors. (f) Nothing in this Section shall prohibit a church or church affiliated school located in a home rule municipality or in a municipality with 75,000 or more inhabitants from locating within 100 feet of a property for which there is a preexisting license to sell alcoholic liquor at retail. In these instances, the local zoning authority may, by ordinance adopted simultaneously with the granting of an initial special use zoning permit for the church or church affiliated school, provide that the 100-foot restriction in this Section shall not apply to that church or church affiliated school and future retail liquor licenses. (g) Nothing in this Section shall prohibit the issuance of a retail license authorizing the sale of alcoholic liquor at premises within 100 feet, but not less than 90 feet, of a public school if (1) the premises have been continuously licensed to sell alcoholic liquor for a period of at least 50 years, (2) the premises are located in a municipality having a population of over 500,000 inhabitants, (3) the licensee is an individual who is a member of a family that has held the previous 3 licenses for that location for more than 25 years, (4) the principal of the school and the alderperson of the ward in which the school is located have delivered a written statement to the local liquor control commissioner stating that they do not object to the issuance of a license under this subsection (g), and (5) the local liquor control commissioner has received the written consent of a majority of the registered voters who live within 200 feet of the premises. (h) Notwithstanding any provision of this Section to the contrary, nothing in this Section shall prohibit the issuance or renewal of a license authorizing the sale of alcoholic liquor within premises and at an outdoor patio area attached to premises that are located in a municipality with a population in excess of 300,000 inhabitants and that are within 100 feet of a church if: (1) the sale of alcoholic liquor at the premises is incidental to the sale of food, (2) the sale of liquor is not the principal business carried on by the licensee at the