As Tinley Park’s six-month ban on new business licenses and zoning permits expires, the Village Board approved a new initiative Tuesday to regulate types of business.
Trustee Ken Shaw said the ordinance aligns the business license approval process and classifications with the liquor and gaming license process, meaning specific types of businesses would be capped at their existing numbers and any additions would require a formal business licensing process.
The number of businesses can go up, but only if the village approves it. It won’t happen automatically, Shaw said.
If a business closes, he said, the village would reduce the number of businesses allowed in that category. The goal is to make sure there’s no extra slot left open that someone could automatically fill later, he said.
While the new initiative controls how many businesses are allowed to exist, the previous ordinance controlled how businesses applied, were approved and complied with regulations.
The village outlined 17 types of businesses in the ordinance: alternative financial services; coffee or tea shops; day labor or temporary employment agencies; gas stations; grocery stores; indoor recreation facilities; jewelry stores; laundry facilities, laundromats and dry cleaners; lodging establishments; massage establishments; pawn shops; secondhand stores or flea markets; personal grooming establishments; pharmacy and drug stores; repossession lots; salon suite establishments; scrap or junk yards; and stand-alone convenience stores.
One purpose of the ordinance, stated in its introduction, is to avoid the clusteirng of certain businesses. The ordinance requires a minimum distance, typically 2,500 feet, between similar businesses.
The village capped several business types at zero, including day labor and temporary employment agencies, repossession lots and junkyards. The village also added requirements for certain business types and established a process for exception requests, which require demonstrating hardship and showing their business would not harm the area.
This previous ordinance laid out a standard business licensing system that required new businesses to undergo reviews and inspections by various departments, aiming to ensure businesses complied with local laws, paid any fees or fines and met health and safety standards.
Shaw assured residents the new ordinance, which adds to these past requirements, is not “putting anyone out of business.”
The initiative aims to prevent over saturation of certain types businesses, increase longevity and fiscal stability for existing businesses and provide a balance of businesses.
The regulations are part of the village’s larger process to produce a comprehensive plan that outlines zoning and applicable business uses for land development and commercial business occupancies.
The village implemented a six-month moratorium on business licenses in August 2025 for 13 different types of establishments and said it would not grant development approvals for building permits, zoning relief requests, site plan approvals or any other discretionary administrative approvals under the village code.
The village revised the moratorium in October to allow building owners to replace business tenants if they leave and allow existing businesses to relocate, as long as zoning and use codes are followed.
Village Manager Pat Carr said in August the moratorium was the culmination of more than a year’s work on a larger village planning initiative that began in 2024, known as Tinley in Tune. This plan aims to create a community led vision for the next five to 10 years. The previous comprehensive plan was more than 15 to 20 years old, Carr said.
Carr said in August the moratorium was just a pause on what the village is doing to ask what is really going to serve the residents in those specific areas.
Michael Coleman, Tinley Park’s community development interim director, said in October he expected the comprehensive plan to be presented to the board by the end of 2025, but it has yet to be released.
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