The Jefferson Park Free Press
April 30, 2006
Ald.
Levar’s 85% Solution: Great Percentage if You’re a Developer
How did Ald. Levar
come up with this percentage? It certainly wasn’t from any city ordinance. As
residents across the Ward try to rein-in out of control development, Alderman
Levar continues to throw up hurdles.
The way it works in
the 45th Ward, is that a group of homeowners submit a request to
down-zone their block, usually prompted by news of a developer buying a
single-family home on an oversized lot, with the intention of dividing the lot
into two and constructing two homes where only the one used to sit. Alderman
Levar then usually meets with representatives of that block, confirms the
request, and sends out ballots to each homeowner on that block. An 85% response
in favor of the down-zoning request is “required” by Alderman Levar before he
will agree to down-zone the block. This means that a block with 24 homes on it
would need at least 20 homeowners to return a ballot in favor of the
down-zoning request. Conversely, a mere 4 homeowners could vote against the
down-zoning or simply not return their ballot, thus killing the down-zoning
request.
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In this case 4 homeowners would be dictating zoning policy to the other 20 homeowners! So in reality it’s a 16% Solution!
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Imagine one ballot
getting lost, two homeowners out of town and one homeowner in the hospital; the
down-zoning request would be dead.
Considering voter
turnout during our last elections was well under 40%, what is the likely hood
that 85% of the homeowners would cast a ballot?
The odds are
certainly in favor of the developer, whom if he already owns one of the
properties, gets a vote too.
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While an
amendment to the United States Constitution only requires a 2/3rds majority,
(66.7%), a request to down-zone property in the 45th Ward requires
85%!
This is just
another way for Alderman Levar to set the bar so high, that developers can continue to cash-in,
sellers to cash-out, and campaign contributions to keep rolling in.
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Meanwhile, the rest
of the community is left to suffer not only the unpleasant aesthetics of homes
out of character with the rest of the block, but also increased traffic and
parking congestion, less green-space to soak up heavy rains and overcrowding in
our public schools.
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Isn’t it interesting there is no 85% requirement, no percentage requirement at all, when a developer asks for up-zoning?
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It is often easily
granted with little if any input at all from neighboring residents.
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Alderman Levar is doing a good job representing the interests of those LEAVING the Ward, when will he start representing those of us LIVING in the Ward?
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Against All Odds
Fear of a single family home being turned into a 2-flat, and of two
homes on double lots being eyed by developers prompted several residents on the
4000 block of North Lawler Avenue to circulate a petition to down-zone that
block from RS3 to RS2. The RS3 designation could have allowed for a
single-family home to be converted into a 2-flat and homes on double lots
(50x125ft.) being demolished and replaced by 2 homes, which would be completely
out of character of that block as it is now.
An Amazing 100% of the homeowners signed the petition.
Alderman Levar and his staff met with the residents of the 4000 North
Lawler block and their attempts to dissuade the residents with warnings of
reduced property values were refuted by Old Irving Park Association (OIPA)
president, Howard Silver, whose organization convinced 38th Ward
Alderman, Tom Allen, many years ago to down-zone entire precincts that were in
OIPA’s boundaries and his ward at the time, from RS3 to RS2. This reduced the
threat of tear-downs and preserved the pleasant “turn of the last century”
layout of these streets which continues to boast of homes on wide spacious lots
surrounded by trees, bushes, flowers and plants. Wide swaths of greenery still
divide one home from another, allowing for the privacy that two homes on a divided
lot could not have.
In Old Irving the pleasant layout afforded by the lesser density zoning
of RS2 has enhanced property values rather than decrease them.
The Old Irving neighborhood continues to be desirable because there are
fewer and fewer neighborhoods like it; let’s do the same for Mayfair Park,
Portage Park and Jefferson Park.
{Editor’s note: Alderman Levar issued ballots to the 24 homeowners of
which 23 ballots were returned, exceeding the high hurdle of 85% and at the
time this article was written, it was expected that the down-zoning request
would be approved by the City Council, or may have been approved already at the
Council’s meeting mid-last week.}
VIEW CAMPAIGN
DISCLOSURES AT:
http://www.elections.state.il.us/CampaignDisclosure/welcome.aspx
(click on
“committees” and type in candidate’s last name)
VIEW THE NEW ZONING ORDINANCE GO TO: http://www.cityofchicago.org/zoning
VIEW WHEN THE ZONING COMMITTEE WILL MEET: http://www.chicityclerk.com/citycouncil/calendar.html
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The
Cheat Sheet
It’s All About The Dash
(-) (edited from our February’05
issue)
As the number following the
dash goes up so does the density. For example a “- 1” requires a minimum of
2,500 square ft. of lot area for every unit, a “-1.5” allows 1,350 square feet
of lot area per unit, “- 2” allows only
1000 sq. ft. of lot area per unit and a
“-3” allows for even greater density requiring only 400 square feet per
unit. So for example if you had 29,800 sq. ft. of land and you were zoned
B2-3 you could build 74 condos! If the property was zoned B2-2 you would be
allowed 29 condos, B2-1.5 would allow for 22 condos and if zoned B2-1, you
could only build 11 condos.
That number after the
dash makes a big difference. Now
imagine that you bought a property zoned B3-1 but you were able to get it
rezoned to B2-3, that “dash three” could make your property worth a lot, lot
more. Why should the Alderman and the City give away that zoning? What is the
community getting in return for this extreme density? What about the impact on
the schools, traffic congestion, flooding and quality of life in general? Why
would Alderman Levar want to diminish the quality of life just to increase a
developer’s profits? If a developer bought the property as zoned let him
build as zoned. Once the zoning change is allowed, a precedent will have been
set and the City will have a very difficult time refusing, if it can refuse at
all, future requests for up-zoning on the remaining parcels of that block.
Example: Zoning
classification for B2-__ Example: 29,800 sq. ft lot
Dash 1 : 2,500 sq. ft.
minimum lot area per unit allows approx. 11 condos
Dash 1.5
: 1,350 sq. ft. minimum lot
area per unit allows approx. 22 condos
Dash 2
: 1,000 sq. ft. minimum lot
area per unit allows approx. 29 condos
Dash 3
: 400 sq. ft. minimum lot
area per unit allows approx. 74 condos
The same applies for residential zoning. The density
issue especially comes into play with older homes on double lots (50 x 125),
which have 6,250 square feet or more. This type property has become attractive
to developers because they can be torn down and replaced with two homes. The
increased density affects not just the character of the neighborhood but also
parking, school overcrowding and flooding (as green space that acted as a
watershed is reduced).
Leaving a home on a double lot under R3 zoning or
greater is like leaving a freshly baked pie on the window sill with the aroma
wafting under the noses of developers. Down-zoning to “current use” such as R2
would stop the destruction of homes existing on double-lots. Note the
chart below.
RS 1 :
6,250 sq. ft. minimum lot area required per unit allows
1 unit on a double lot
RS 2 :
5,000 sq. ft. minimum lot area required per unit allows
1 unit on a double lot
RS 3 :
2,500 sq. ft. minimum lot area required per unit *allows 2.5 units on a double lot
RT 3.5 :
1,250 sq. ft. minimum lot area required per unit *allows
5 units on a double lot
RT 4 :
1,000 sq. ft. minimum lot area required per unit *allows
6 units on a double lot
* a variance, or a slightly larger
lot may allow for an extra unit.
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