Mental Health Center Raises Concerns About Brewery

NEW LENOX, IL — One New Lenox business is not happy with its neighbor. The Healing Center for Behavioral Health is located next door to Hickory Creek Brewing Company off of Laraway Road, and the owner of the clinic recently sent a letter detailing complaints about the brewing company to the mayor and village trustees. The practice opened in New Lenox in 2016 and offers mental health counseling for children, teens and families.

Hickory Creek Brewing Company opened in 2017 next door to the practice, and the beer garden opened in 2019.

Shelley Skas, the president of the practice, recently sent a letter detailing her complaints to Mayor Tim Baldermann and village trustees. In the letter, Skas said the clinic was never given any notice when the village first approved the brewing company.

"There was no investigation as to the impact of having a bar adjacent to an existing mental health facility," Skas wrote. She said the clinic was even more surprised this year when the village approved a beer garden at the brewing company.

"Did the trustees think we can conduct therapy sessions with bar patrons drinking alcohol a few feet outside our windows?" Skas said. "The board of trustees' actions have effectively shut down our business after 5:30 p.m. Due to work and school schedules, this is prime time for therapy sessions."

Skas also details several complaints and says the brewing company is violating several village ordinances, including violating hours for its beer garden.

"In granting this [beer garden] license, the board of trustees set the hours at 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and all other days 9 p.m.," Skas writes. "This is not honored. We have a camera inside our windows with proof."

Skas said the noise from the brewing company's live entertainment is also so loud that it disrupts therapy sessions.

"As you can surmise, this [noise] causes our clients, your constituents, great distress during their sessions, leading most to cancel," Skas said.

According to New Lenox code of ordinances for a microbrewery, "All entertainment must be confined solely within the fully enclosed building of the licensed premises. Sound from the entertainment must not be audible outside the enclosed building of the licensed premises."

Another violation, according to Skas, involves the floor of the beer garden of the brewery. In a post from the business on Facebook, there is a concrete pad, but tables also stand on a gravel-type material.

According to New Lenox code of ordinances for a beer garden, "Floors shall be of a hard surface; i.e., concrete, asphalt or brick material."

The brewing company actually received an allowance for this ordinance during the planning process. They are allowed gravel in the patio area so that the patio could be reversed in the future.

Skas said she has not received information from the village about the ordinance violations, since she sent her letter in early August. She was told the owner of the brewing company was going to be told to remove the outdoor speakers, but that hasn't happened yet.

Patch has reached out to Hickory Creek Brewing Company about these complaints.

Assistant Village Administrator and Community Development Director Robin Ellis said Hickory Creek Brewing Company received all of the required zoning approvals and permits from the village.

"I am not aware of any code violations," she said.

Skas said the clinic and its clients "are at the end of our ropes."

"We would like to stay, but we cannot continue," Skas said.