Plan Commission approves special-use permit for coffee shop at Village Plaza

The Orland Park Plan Commission voted May 20 to approve a special-use permit allowing Kansman Cafe LLC, doing business as Lolly Coffee Shop, to open a coffee shop in a vacant tenant space at the Village plaza commercial center in Orland Park.

The permit authorizes a restaurant use within 300 feet of a residential parcel; staff recommended approval with conditions, and the commission approved the recommendation by roll call vote (Sanchez, Paul, Parisi, Schuessler, Nugent and Zamparelli voting aye). The motion was made by Commissioner Schuessler and seconded by Commissioner Paul.

Staff told the commission the tenant space is approximately 4,385 square feet and that the business would operate as a sit-down restaurant with takeout, offering coffee, beverages and select bakery items. Development Services staff said the petitioner and staff have discussed the Village’s special-use standards and building permitting requirements and recommended approval subject to landscaping and building-permit conditions.

Staff said the center’s shared parking lot has 135 spaces; using standard parking factors the center’s combined tenant uses would require 149 spaces, a technical deficit of about 9 percent. Staff cited the Land Development Code provision allowing the Development Services Department to authorize up to a 20 percent reduction in required spaces and said that, because the deficit is below that threshold and a joint-use reduction is appropriate, staff considers the parking requirement met. The staff presentation noted the code may also require landscape work to bring parking-lot islands into compliance and recommended that required planting be completed prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy.

Staff also told the commission the petitioner has access to two shared dumpsters at the rear of the building and is prepared to increase collection frequency or add a dumpster if needed; any additional dumpster would have to meet the village’s screening and design standards. Staff’s recommendation, as recorded in the staff report dated May 14, 2025, included conditions that: required parking-lot landscape islands meet the requirements of the Land Development Code prior to issuance of a certificate of occupancy and that all building-code requirements and permits be met.

Petitioner Nassim Salah, who said he lives in Orland Park, told commissioners the coffee shop would be easy to access from two nearby signalized intersections and that the business would rely on off-site specialty bakeries for pastries rather than baking on-site. Development Services staff informed the commission that the proposed hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

Commissioners focused their questions and comments on three recurring issues: parking, trash/dumpster capacity and the possibility of a future drive-through. Several commissioners said the shared parking arrangement at the center has worked for other tenants and that the 9 percent deficit falls within the department’s allowable reduction; one commissioner asked the petitioner to be prepared to add dumpster capacity or collection frequency if garbage becomes an issue. Chairman Parisi and Commissioner Nugent emphasized that any future drive-through would require a separate review and approvals (engineering, traffic study and village-board review) and is not authorized by the permit approved May 20.

The commission approved the special-use permit with the staff-recommended conditions. The petitioner must obtain required building permits and satisfy the landscaping and dumpster-screening conditions before a certificate of occupancy is issued.