The Orland Park Costco will move forward with plans to relocate and expand its gas station and increase parking.
“Costco operations is going back to a lot of our older warehouses and looking at ways to improve parking and circulation internally, as well as externally,” Costco real estate manager Larry Dziurdzik said in a recent presentation to the Orland Park Village Board.
The members-only warehouse at 9915 West 159th St. opened in 2006 with 763 parking spaces and six fuel pumps, Dziurdzik said. Since then, the location has seen steep growth in membership as well as sales that is expected to continue.
The Village Board unanimously approved plans to allow space for an another 102 parking spaces and 14 more fuel pumps. The store needed rezoning to allow for gas pumps on a 6-acre plot. Moving the gas station farther from the warehouse will reduce traffic congestion as customers navigate the parking lot, Dziurdzik.
“I think most of us know who are Costco members know how bad traffic can be on a Saturday or Sunday or during holiday events,” Dziurdzik said. “It can get a little confusing currently there with the long queues. It mixes in with the parking.”
The planned expansion follows the village voting to continue the 1% municipal grocery tax the state decided will end on Jan. 1. The Orland Park Costco is the village’s largest generator of grocery tax revenue, Trustee Dina Lawrence said.
“We’re delighted at the new plans and how there’s a lot of extra parking created and that the gasoline part is being expanded too and brought over to a separate area,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence also commended Costco officials for funding construction of a roundabout that will provide entrance to the gas station and a lane leading to the warehouse parking lot and for landscaping to create a safe and aesthetically pleasing environment for visitors and nearby developments.
A 16-acre retail development is planned for the southwest corner at 159th Street and La Grange Road, traffic from which the roundabout is designed to accommodate.
The board also approved a conceptual plan to add amenities and replace the playground and pavilion at Evergreen View Park next year.
Board members said it took community concerns about noise and activity changes into account when deciding which amenities to include. Households within 1,500 feet of the park were surveyed about a potential pollinator garden, bag toss courts, frisbee golf baskets, a putting green, a natural grass soccer field, pickleball courts and a splash pad.
Trustees ultimately approved a plan that excluded a splash pad, as 63% of residents opposed the idea. The conceptual plan will be incorporated as part of a grant application to improve the park.
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