Oak Park is considering reforms to its special event permitting process, including reducing all special event fees by 25%.
Oak Park’s village board held a study session on the village’s special event permitting process Tuesday, May 5. Village staff had researched peer municipalities processes and collected feedback from community event organizers to provide a set of recommendations on potential reforms to Oak Park’s special event permitting process with the goal of encouraging more new events to be held in the village.
Village President Vicki Scaman said it’s in the village’s best interest to be focused in encouraging the types of special events that will boost local small businesses. Oak Park has mostly reached a saturation point on “runs” and “bike rides,” she said.
“We need to be very limited on what kinds of new events we’re interested in, we can’t handle another bike ride or another run,” Scaman said. “I think the types of events that we’ve talked about the most are those community building neighborhood events, those are the ones I’d like to see or the ones supporting our small business districts.”
One key recommendation included moving the village away from policies meant to recoup the total actual cost of events to requiring payment from organizers based on estimated costs in an effort to help event organizers budget more accurately, according to Oak Park Neighborhood Services Director Jonathan Burch.
“We certainly heard a lot from special event partners about fee structures,” Burch said “They are seeking greater cost certainty and in order to deliver that the idea is that we commit to an estimate up front and then in turn seek reimbursement based on that estimated cost.”
Other recommendations include dropping the pre-event deposit amount from 50% of an event’s estimated cost to 20%, lowering event fees by 25% across the board and setting a hard cap for event fees at $10,000.
Only a few large events like Oaktoberfest and Microbrew Review have eclipsed $10,000 in village fees in recent years, Burch said.
Those reforms could result in an annual revenue loss of a little over $13,000 a year, although that is less than what the village presently offers in grants to event organizers, Burch said.
Staff also recommended that the village board pass an ordinance broadening the definition of “special events” so that the village can better coordinate police, fire and public works resources to support the events. Last year, 2025, saw a six-year high for special events in Oak Park.
“We are coming into more and more circumstances where we have conflicting dates,” Burch said. “All special events including those put on by the village need to be going through the same process to ensure that we are adequately and appropriately using those resources across time, that events are getting their moment to shine and that we’re able to provide the support we need in order for them to be successful.”
Village staff also recommended that the village begin using private security contractors for some events as its been difficult at times to find enough Oak Park police officers willing to sign up for overtime shifts at special events, Burch said.