The Tinley Park Plan Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the Village Board approve a special use allowing a K9 Resorts kennel and to recommend site-plan and architectural approval for a Windy City Dog Resorts franchise at 16040 S. Harlem Ave. in the Park Center Plaza PUD. The petitioner said the location will occupy roughly 9,700 square feet of the former American Freight space and include indoor boarding and daycare plus an outdoor play area and mitigation measures intended to limit noise and odors.

Planning staff said the proposal is a substantial deviation from the Park Center Plaza PUD and that the facility would be classified as a kennel under the Tinley Park zoning ordinance. Staff described the proposed operations, noting a design capacity of 128 dogs and a typical stabilized daily census of roughly 50 percent of capacity. The petitioner proposes an outdoor play area of roughly 8,000–9,000 square feet, an eight-foot perimeter fence, hospital-grade HVAC with UV purification, interior acoustic block walling and daily cleaning/disinfecting protocols.

Megan Murphy, attorney for the applicants with Thompson Coburn, and Zach Nisbett (franchisee, Windy City Dog Resorts/WCDR Tinley Park LLC) spoke for the project. Nisbett described operational procedures the company uses at its other locations: intake evaluations to separate dogs by weight and temperament (35-pound threshold for small vs. large yards), a multi-zone HVAC and filtration system, daily disinfecting of the outdoor turf, and staffing plans that would put about eight to 10 employees on a typical shift. “The number one thing I tell people about why they should board their dog with us is the air quality,” Nisbett said, describing 15 fresh-air exchanges per hour and UV treatment in the filtration system.

Commissioners asked about noise and smell. Staff and the applicants said interior acoustic materials and an eight-foot BuffTech fence around the outdoor play area would substantially attenuate barking; the applicant cited prior sound studies and internal experience at locations in the region. On odor control, the petitioner described synthetic turf with engineered percolation layers and procedures to remove solids immediately and to disinfect the yard at least once, and often twice, per day.

Because the village zoning limit for fences is six feet, the proposal also included an exception to allow an eight-foot fence for the outdoor play area; staff recommended that the fence be permitted as part of the special-use/site-plan approvals. Plan Commission members had no reservations after the operational and architectural details were presented and voted to recommend both the special use (substantial deviation) and site-plan/architectural approvals; the matter will go to the Village Board on Oct. 7 for final action.

Votes at a glance: Motion to recommend a special use for a kennel (substantial deviation from Park Center Plaza PUD) — carried by roll call (unanimous). Motion to recommend site-plan and architectural approval for the kennel and outdoor play area — carried by roll call (unanimous).