An Oak Forest restaurant won approval for its expansion plans despite safety concerns raised by a city commission that studied the proposal prior to the City Council’s vote.
Oak Forest City Council members voted 4-3 Tuesday in favor of a plan to add on to the dining patio at Oliver’s Bar & Grill, 6150 W. 159th St. The move would expand the structure to within 9 feet of 159th Street.
Planning and Zoning Commission members had recommended against the plan, suggesting that the patio not be permitted to come within 25 feet of the street, which is a major thoroughfare. Aldermen also considered a compromise that would have allowed the restaurant to expand to within 16 to 18 feet of the street.
But aldermen Diane Wolf, 3rd Ward, and James Emmett, 5th Ward, said they saw little to no reason for such a large gap, and a slim majority of the council ultimately agreed with them.
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Tom Les, who operates the family-owned business, said he wants to be able to expand the patio to as much space as possible, saying it would allow him to increase the overall capacity of the restaurant to ensure that Oliver’s continues to exist for years to come in Oak Forest.
He said many other area businesses come as close to 159th Street as his building would, and municipal ordinances that regulate structures aren’t applicable.
“I don’t give a hoot what (the) ordinance is,” Les told aldermen, adding he thinks he needs expanded capacity to boost business. “Our tax liability has doubled in the years since Oliver’s began business,” he said.
Les also said he was making sacrifices to build a patio so large in that he was giving up parking spaces.
Alderman James Hortsman, 6th Ward, was most outspoken on the issue, saying there needs to be adequate space between the street and the restaurant structure to ensure that cars passing along 159th Street do not lose control and crash into the structure.
In the end, aldermen Paul Selman, 4th Ward, Denise Danihel, 7th Ward, and Horstman voted against the proposal, while the other four aldermen were for it, including Richard Simon, 2nd Ward, who while acting Tuesday as mayor pro tempore in the absence of Henry Kuspa originally said he favored following the zoning board’s recommendation.
In other business, the City Council voted 6-1, with Simon voting in opposition, to approve a liquor license for Peggy’s Deli, a restaurant planned to open by Nov. 1 at 4142 W. 167th St. The restaurant would offer full food service, along with electronic gaming machines.
Dee Hudson, who wants to run the business along with wife Peggy, said he wants to create a business catering to people 55 years and older, and he says that some 75 percent of the business will come from food and beverages, rather than gambling. He said, “the gambling is really ancillary to what we have in mind.”
That plan includes a wine club, but no disc jockeys or tequila, which “attracts a younger crowd,” he said.
When asked why he’d want to focus on older customers, he said, “because I’m 53.”
The Hudsons previously operated the Linger Martini Bar located within the same strip mall on 167th Street. That business was sold in November 2017.