The hearing that would decide whether Forest Park Tap Room, 7321 Madison St., would keep its liquor license and a separate zoning hearing on whether Crystal Car Wash, 901 S. Harlem Ave., would be able to expand to a nearby property have both been delayed.
Mayor Rory Hoskins, who also acts as the village’s liquor commission, is set to consider whether to renew Tap Room bar’s liquor license after Forest Park Police Chief Kenneth Gross filed a complaint in late April. The complaint cited Tap Room’s alleged repeated failure to control crowds and prevent fights, as well as violating COVID-19 related capacity restrictions. Gross also alleged that the bar owners lied to the village about their plans for the Tap Room and their history of operating a bar in the city of Berwyn.
The hearing was originally scheduled for May 11 at 11 a.m. It was rescheduled to May 23 at 10 a.m. at the request of Tap Room’s attorneys.
Meanwhile, the Crystal Car Wash is looking to expand across Lexington Street, building a 14-stall self-serve automobile vacuum facility at 7201 Lexington St. The Forest Park municipal code doesn’t allow businesses to make noise that “disturb[s] the peace” between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. though Crystal Car Wash’s existing vacuums are grandfathered in.
Residents living near the proposed site previously expressed concerns about the noise caused by the vacuums. Crystal Car Wash is proposing putting in “sound attenuation fencing” that, it claims, would not only buffer the sound of the vacuums, but would reduce the traffic noise coming from Harlem Avenue. The Planning and Zoning Commission and the village council will need to approve the site plan, including the sound buffers, before the car wash can proceed with construction.
According to the village website, that item was continued to the future meeting at Crystal Car Wash attorney’s request. Unlike the Tap Room case the date for when that item might be continued to have not been set.
