Incoming pickleball club Dinx looks to have self-serve alcohol concept

Highland Park now has a new category of liquor license, one that will allow licensure of any business selling alcohol via relatively new “self-pour” technology.

Highland Park’s City Council approved the code change, including a separate amendment setting the price of a self-service liquor license at $2,580, on Monday.

Despite the unanimous decision (only councilmember Yumi Ross wasn’t in attendance), some on the dais said they were concerned about the speed with which they thought the decision was being made. And while they praised plans by Highland Park residents David and Brooke Sloane to open a sports-related social club with that technology, council members urged them and their partners to build in even more protection against underage drinking and over-drinking than state-mandated regulations call for.

“I completely support this and will vote for it,” Councilmember Annette Lidawer said, adding that she supported bringing new businesses to the city. “But I would have liked us to have had more information.”

Village Manager Ghida Neukirch reminded council members that they already expanded the city’s licensing ordinances in April, and this was a continuance of that process. Monday’s votes were not to grant the DINX Social Club a liquor license, and the Sloanes and their team would have to seek that separately, she said.

Neukirch also said city staff had researched neighboring communities with self-pour operations and had conferred with the city’s police department, before recommending the code amendments.

“This was definitely not rushed,” she said.

“I have no problem granting the license, but I am concerned” about several issues, Councilmember Anthony Blumberg said. He worried about the size of portions patrons could serve themselves with, and said having staff keep an eye on the self-serve area would not provide the same level of oversight as a bartender would have at a traditional alcohol-serving establishment.  

The Sloanes presented plans for their 23,000-square-foot DINX Social Club in an effort to introduce council to the self-pour aspect of the project. The club that they hope to open soon in the former Staples store at 1931 Skokie Blvd. will have six pickleball courts and three golf simulator bays, along with social lounges, they told council members.

They spoke about how their business would operate the self-pour “wall” that the municipal code amendment would allow. 

David Sloane said, “We’re not trying to be a bar, we’re a membership club,” but acknowledged that the 27-foot-long wall was an important part of their business model.

He assured board members that DINX staff would have the state-mandated BASSET alcohol service training and would carefully oversee patrons serving themselves. Those patrons would have to show identification proving they were not underage; only then would they be issued cards they could use to serve themselves a limited amount of beer, wine or spirits, with measurements roughly equivalent to two drinks. 

“If you aren’t 21, you won’t be getting a card,” he said. 

If club members and other patrons — DINX Social Club would be open to the general public, while offering club members discounts and extra services — want to “recharge” their alcohol card, staff would evaluate each user to determine if they should be allowed to do so, he said.

Mayor Nancy Rotering, who is Highland Park’s liquor control commissioner, said that the Sloanes and their team have been working on the DINX project for about two years, and said “We have people here who are stakeholders, who are residents.” 

After Blumberg said he would like the city’s three-person liquor control commission, of which he is a member, to look at the issue, Corporation Counsel Steven Elrod told the council that Rotering, the commission’s head, had the sole ability to issue liquor licenses. The council, however, could direct her to add conditions to any license, he said.  

Elrod also said the council could undertake further amendments should that be its determination in future. 

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