Come May 29, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stay-at-home order is expected to ease restrictions in accordance to the “phase three” transition of the Restore Illinois plan. For restaurants like Jameson’s Charhouse, this means re-opening their outdoor patio dining area starting May 30. Despite Illinois loosening restrictions, businesses are still expected to follow a set of rules to ensure the safety of its customers. Pritzker’s administration issued a “Phase 3 Business Toolkit” containing various signage and checklists to aid in implementing the new safety guidelines.
Daniella Duciour, an employee at Jameson’s, explained that while outdoor seating is expected to resume the weekend of May 30, they are unsure of the number of tables made available.
“We’re hoping to open up this weekend, but we’re only taking reservations at this moment. Right now, we don’t really know how many tables we’ll have outside, so we won’t start taking reservations until later this week. We will have the tables spaced out from one another to follow all the guidelines from the state,” Duciour said.
Sun City’s board president, Dennis O’Leary, and the rest of the board leaders are expected to further discuss re-opening Sun City facilities in their next meeting taking place May 27.
O’Leary stated in an email correspondence, how the wellbeing of Sun City residents is a determining factor in how the board chooses to proceed with decision making, citing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines recommending older adults still at high risk for developing COVID-19 complications, to continue to remain cautious when going out.
“We are going to be cautious. Social distancing would limit what areas of the building could even be used. Charter clubs and special interest groups would not be able to meet because of size limitations on group meetings,” O’Leary said. “Additionally, continually sanitizing the open areas of the building would be difficult, expensive and possibly impossible due to the unavailability of some of the products needed to accomplish that task. We have a responsibility to protect our residents.”
Interim Huntley Village manager, Lisa Armour, made mention how the Village has a plan to prepare for the phased re-openings.
“The Village is planning to approve an outdoor dining program that will allow restaurants to expand their outdoor dining areas subject to the state’s guidelines,” Armour said.
