IN CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOOD REZONING ISSUES – Money Apparently Talks Louder Than Neighborhood Concerns!

IN CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOOD REZONING ISSUES – Money Apparently Talks Louder Than Neighborhood Concerns!

CHICAGO DEVELOPERS ZONING ATTORNEYS MAKE POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS – ALDERMEN ADVOCATE THEIR PROJECTS CITY COUNCIL JUST GOES ALONG!

In theory the Chicago system for approving Zoning Variance is a good thing. It creates an opportunity for neighbors to vote their concerns at a neighborhood forum. It mandates public notice in advance of rezoning hearings. It assures participation by the developers involved their architects and attorneys and the local alderman.

There’s one big problem here however: The decision to rezone has often been finalized with arrangements for city council approval before any public hearing ever takes place.

This slanted process has been a part of Chicago for as long as this lifetime resident can remember and as long as my father another lifetime Chicagoan can recall.

Unlike rezoning in many other cities across the country and many of the Chicago suburbs here in the city the mayor as well as other alderman of the Chicago City Council usually defer complete ward control and sign- off for most local building projects to the alderman.

Is there a possibility for corrupt practice here? Of course! For the most part many local projects approved by a Chicago Ward Alderman are automatically approved by the full city council. Will usually-legal political contributions by developers architects and attorneys influence the alderman’s decision more than the input of area residents? Many people say "YES!"

Across Chicago influential developers over the past couple of decades have gained zoning variance and approval to build large mini-mansions or condo or commercial projects many out of scale with the neighborhood in which they are located.

In many situations requirements for advance warning via mailed notices and signs on the property are ignored. Neighbors speaking at zoning hearings can only voice objection for the record – not ask questions of the parties involved. In the end developers and the local aldermen usually get most of what they want no matter what neighborhood residents have to say.

Here’s an example of how the process works from an approved nine-story senior housing/first floor retail building in Alderman Bernie Stone’s 50th Ward and his West Rogers Park Neighborhood on the Far North Side of Chicago. The building on the 6900 Block of North Western Avenue will offer 100 senior housing units at an estimated cost of $9 Million.

Neighborhood activists say they only learned of the project when they noticed that Stone had placed the proposal on the City Council Zoning Committee agenda. No signs were placed on the property in question and supposedly-mailed notices were not received by neighbors. When the activists complained the alderman put off the committee vote and call unofficial public meetings at his office.

Alerted by activists the crowds at the meetings in Stone’s ward office were overwhelmingly against the project. But Stone made it clear he supported the project.

"Why shouldn’t we build it?" Stone told the crowd.

They replied that the developer had conducted no study of how traffic would affect the area that parking was insufficient and that the new building would be far taller than any structure in the area.

When one critic asked Stone why no sign had been displayed the alderman responded that he was among the council members who instituted the sign requirement but he quickly added: "I am not a policeman. We do not enforce that. All we do is pass the law."

The alderman told the crowd that the "proper place" to question the process would be in the courts.

Despite the fact that nearly 100 in the office protested and two vocal ones spoke up against the project Alderman Stone quickly moved to approve the plans. He noted the developers plans to add a few more parking spaces from their initial proposal. Further the height of the new project would end up shorter than the maximum height allowed under the revised zoning.

In the end the committee unanimously concurred with the alderman and the entire Chicago City Council approved the zoning variance last June.

At City Hall after approval of the zoning change one community activist approached project architect John Hanna outside the council chambers. The activist asked Hanna why he gave $3000 to Stone before last year’s hard-fought 50th Ward election even though Hanna does not live in the ward.

"I get requests [for donations] all the time from every alderman" Hanna responded. "Politics is politics you know."

For more details links to other installments in the Chicago Tribune’s "Neighborhoods for Sale" series and a database of recent re-zoning results by Chicago neighborhood read Dan Mihalopouolos and Robert Becker’s story in yesterdays Tribune.

DEAN MOSS & DEAN’S TEAM CHICAGO