Village of Wilmette, Backyard Barbecue Store agree to share back alley

A showing of support from Wilmette officials Tuesday night is sure to be up one local business’s alley. 

Wilmette’s Village Board approved during its Dec. 10 meeting a licensing agreement with Backyard Barbecue Store that will allow the local grilling store private use of a village-owned alley.

According to a village memo, Dan Marguerite, the owner of Backyard Barbecue Store, approached officials about the use of the village’s property located directly behind his business at 535 Green Bay Road.

Wilmette, per village documents, owns what officials described as an “L-shaped strip of land” that functions as an alley and is located between the back of Rouzati Rugs going west to the rear of the Village Dog and then turns south between Backyard Barbecue and Village Dog. 

The alley is approximately 650 square feet, according to village officials. 

The approved agreement will allow Backyard Barbecue to use the alley for the parking of two of their vehicles as well as a trash enclosure, village attorney Jeffrey Stein told trustees during the meeting.  Traffic will not be able to go through that portion of the alley, Stein added. 

Per Stein, the village engineer reviewed traffic counts for the current use of the alley and found that roughly 50 vehicles per day use it. Officials then determined there was “no significant impact” to traffic by moving forward with the agreement, Stein said. 

The terms of the license are “relatively simple,” according to Stein, who added there is no defined term length, meaning the village can cancel the license for any reason within 24 hours notice if it determines that Wilmette needs the property back. 

Documents detailing the agreement say that Backyard Barbecue will pay the village an initial $800 license fee. The store will pay the fee every year in which it is using the alley and the cost will be increased annually by Consumer Price Index percentage. 

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