Phase 3 & 4 - Reopening and Outdoor Dining

UPDATE - August 2020
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) proposed an emergency rule, which was approved by the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR),  regarding the use of face coverings. Governor JB Pritzker, during his press briefing announcing the rules last week, stated that the rules provide multiple opportunities for compliance before any penalty is issued and are a commonsense way to enforce public health guidelines. A fact sheet regarding the rules can be found here

Governor JB Pritzker is announcing new mitigation steps the State of Illinois will apply in the event it experiences spikes like those that have occurred recently across the country. Below is a link to the plan which also expands the current four health regions to eleven:  https://www2.illinois.gov/IISNews/21818-Actions_to_Combat_a_Resurgence_of_COVID-19.pdf

The new regions in which the metropolitan Chicago region are divided include:
SOUTH SUBURBAN: Kankakee, Will 
WEST SUBURBAN: DuPage, Kane 
NORTH SUBURBAN: Lake, McHenry 
SUBURBAN COOK: Suburban Cook
CHICAGO: City of Chicago

Reopening of Village Buildings

With the upcoming transition to Phase 4 under the Restore Illinois Plan, the Village Hall and Police/Public Works buildings will be reopening to the public on July 6. Over the past month, Village offices have been open to the public on an appointment basis with official Village business primarily being transacted via phone or online, as applicable. If your preference is to continue to conduct your Village business remotely, we encourage you to do so. Otherwise, walk-in visits will be permitted starting on July 6.  Please note, anyone entering the building is required to wear a face covering over your mouth and nose and adhere to social distancing guidelines.  Please do not enter the building if you are feeling unwell. We thank you for your cooperation and patience as we transition together. 

 
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Phase 4 - What Does This Mean
UPDATE: The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity released an informative reopening business and returning people to work website as it relates to Phase 4.



On May 5, 2020, Governor JB Pritzker laid out a plan to "Restore Illinois." This five-phased plan allows for a gradual reopening of businesses, education establishments, and recreation activities. These guidelines have helped guide the decisions for many municipalities within the State of Illinois, including Woodridge. Currently, the Village of Woodridge, and DuPage County, is part of a larger geographic area that includes many counties in the northeast portion of the state. This "Northeast Region" is trending to enter Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan on Friday, June 26.

So what does this mean?
The State of Illinois has laid out the following as to changes in Phase 4.

Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan creates safety guidelines for the following permitted activities and businesses to resume, with capacity rules in place:

  • Meetings and events: Venues and meeting spaces can resume with the lesser of up to 50 people OR 50% of overall room capacity. Multiple groups are permitted given facilities have space to appropriately social distance and can limit interaction between groups. This includes activities such as conferences and weddings.
  • Indoor and Outdoor recreation: Revised guidelines to allow select indoor recreation facilities (e.g., bowling alleys, skating rinks), as well as clubhouses to reopen. Indoor recreation to operate at lesser of 50 customers OR 50% of facility capacity with outdoor recreation allowing group sizes of up to 50, and permitting multiple groups given facilities have space to appropriately social distance and can limit interaction between groups; concessions permitted with restrictions.
  • Indoor Dining: Indoor dining can reopen with groups of 10 or less, with tables spaced 6-feet apart in seated areas and with standing areas at no more than 25% of capacity.
  • Museums: Can reopen with no more than 25% occupancy, and with interactive exhibits and rides closed; guided tours should be limited to 50 people or fewer per group; museums should have a plan to limit congregation via advance ticket sales and timed ticketing; concessions permitted with restrictions.
  • Zoos: Can reopen with no more than 25% occupancy, and with interactive exhibits, indoor exhibits, and rides closed; guided tours should be limited to 50 people or fewer per group; zoos should have a plan to limit congregation via advance ticket sales and timed ticketing; concessions permitted with restrictions.
  • Cinema and Theatre: Indoor seated theaters, cinemas, and performing arts centers to allow admission of the lesser of up to 50 guests OR 50% of overall theater or performance space capacity (applies to each screening room); outdoor capacity limited to 20% of overall theater or performance space capacity; concessions permitted with restrictions.
  • Outdoor seated spectator events: Outdoor spectator sports can resume with no more than 20% of seating capacity; concessions permitted with restrictions.
  • Film production: Allow no more than 50% of sound stage or filming location capacity; crowd scenes should be limited to 50 people or fewer.

Industries with revised guidelines in Phase 4: 

  • Youth and Recreational Sports: Revised guidelines allow competitive gameplay and tournaments; youth and recreational sports venues can operate at 50% of facility capacity, 20% seating capacity for spectators, and group sizes up to 50 with multiple groups permitted during practice and competitive games given venues have space to appropriately social distance and can limit interaction between groups; concessions permitted with restrictions.
  • Health and fitness centers: Revised guidelines allow gyms to open at 50% capacity and allow group fitness classes of up to 50 people with new safety guidelines for indoors, with multiple groups permitted given facilities have space to appropriately social distance and can limit interaction between groups.
  • Day camps: Water-based activities permitted in accordance with IDPH guidelines; no more than 50% of facility capacity with group size of no more than 15 participants in a group, unless participants changing weekly.

 Additionally, retail, service counters, offices, personal care (including salons, barber, nail salons), manufacturing and other industries allowed to reopen in Phase 3 will continue to operate at a reduced capacity.

Based on the criteria laid out above in the "Business" Section, the Village recommends following all Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. These include, but are not limited to, encouraging sick employees to stay home, performing routine environmental cleaning, and emphasizing respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene. There are many resources from each of these agencies on businesses reopening:
 
Outdoor Dining
For Patrons: The Village team has been hard at work with our restaurant community to create a free and easy permitting process, allowing for expanded outdoor dining options that help us to reopen quickly, but safely. 
This handy flyer gives you a brief guide to which restaurants have outdoor dining already available. If you’re still looking for takeout and delivery options, dinewoodridge.com has you covered!

For Restaurants: We were excited to hear Governor Pritzker’s announcement that outdoor dining will now be allowed under Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois plan.  To support our Woodridge restaurants, the Village team is working quickly to make available a Temporary Outdoor Dining Permit process to support the creation and/or expansion of outdoor dining spaces.  Under the plan, tables will need to be six feet apart and away from sidewalks.  Your outdoor dining space might include repurposing a portion of a parking lot or other such space.  

For those of you who are considering a plan, we would encourage you to work directly with the owner of the property you intend to use, collaborate with other nearby restaurants to develop a restaurant court concept with shared seating where possible, and think through supporting continued carry-out operations simultaneous with outdoor dining.  Keys to success are creativity, collaboration, and compliance with the Governor’s Orders and public health guidelines.

Given Wednesday’s change in timeframe, we worked quickly to finalize the permit application and checklist. You can download the materials from the links below. If you are interested in submitting a permit application, please contact Peggy Halik at phalik@vil.woodridge.il.us or 630-719-4708. We are looking forward to working with you.

Click here to access the OUTDOOR DINING PERMIT APPLICATION