A gas station that a year ago failed in an effort to annex to Tinley Park is renewing its request, with public hearings on the issue scheduled for next month.
Lenny’s Gas N Wash, 19420 S. Harlem Ave., in Frankfort Township, wants annexation, in part, to offer packaged liquor sales and video gambling, according to the village.
Residents living near the business, which includes a convenience store and truck fueling, asked village officials last summer to negotiate an annexation agreement that wouldn’t allow for liquor sales or gambling.
Tinley Park’s Plan Commission will hold a workshop on the request Aug. 1 followed by a public hearing Aug. 15, according to Kimberly Clarke, the village’s community development director.
The Plan Commission’s recommendation would be considered at the Village Board’s Sept. 3 meeting, she said.
In July of last year, Tinley Park’s Village Board had considered an initial reading and initial approval of an annexation agreement with Lenny’s.
A supermajority of the board was needed, with five affirmative votes, but the motion failed on a 3-2 vote, with one trustee abstaining.
At a recent Village Board committee where the annexation was briefly discussed, Cass Wennlund, an attorney representing the business owner, Leonard McEnery, said, “we’d like to be part of the village.”
He told officials that annexation would “allow for more control” of the business by the village.
Village Treasurer Brad Bettenhausen estimated Tinley Park could see property tax, sales tax and other revenue from the business, if it were to be annexed, in the range of $400,000 to $500,000 a year.
This past April, in a 21-5 vote, the Will County Board denied a permit to the business that would have allowed liquor sales.
Video gambling is prohibited in unincorporated portions of the county, and the board earlier this month voted against a proposal that would have lifted that ban.
The gas station and convenience store were built in 2015, with the car wash added in 2017.
McEnery sued Will County in December 2015 after the county board had rejected his request for special use permits for the car wash and a drive-thru lane for food pickup. Residents living near the business had collected 700 signatures asking the county board to deny the special use requests.
In February 2017, a Will County judge overturned the county board’s decision and ruled that McEnery be allowed to install the car wash and drive-thru.
McEnery, at one time an executive with the now-defunct Gas City chain, also has Gas N Wash locations in Kankakee, Plainfield, Sauk Village, Shorewood, Springfield and two in Mokena.
