The Jefferson Park Free Press
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February 27, 2006
Mayfair, a Pleasant Suburb of Chicago
That’s how the 1875
book “Chicago and its Suburbs” described what is now the pleasant Chicago
neighborhood of Mayfair, roughly bounded by Montrose, Lawrence, Elston &
Cicero. Mayfair still retains much of that pleasant suburban charm with large
homes on double-lots. Many of the streets that these homes sit on have no
alley, thus requiring a side driveway, which may be the biggest reason Mayfair
has managed to keep that open suburban feel. But due to strong demand for
housing, any kind of housing, the handsome homes are worth less than the land
that they sit on. Scheming developers are carving up these lots for town-homes,
condos and 18 foot wide “bowling-alley” style homes specifically designed to
double up on these large lots and still leave room for a 14 foot wide shared
driveway right down the middle. The City’s Zoning Committee has a long
tradition of honoring the will of the alderman regarding zoning in his ward.
Some Aldermen are diligent in protecting the character of the neighborhoods in
their ward, such as Ald. Gene Schulter of the 47th Ward, who has
down-zoned much of his ward’s residential streets so that a house or 2-flat
torn down can usually only be replaced by a single family home; and guess what?
In that Ravenswood neighborhood where these homes and 2-flats are going for
over $600,000, developers are doing just that and still managing to make a
profit, as the new homes are selling for $1.2 and $1.4 million dollars! Ald.
Schulter has even down-zoned stretches of N. Damen Avenue, a major thoroughfare
because many blocks on Damen have managed to stay residential through the
decades and recently have caught the eye of developers eager to cash-in. Ald.
Schulter has put the breaks on those developers dreams with protective
down-zoning that basically limits a single family tear-down to only be replaced
with another single family home.
Closer to home, 38th
Ward Alderman Tom Allen has also stepped up to the plate by announcing that he
intends to request down-zoning for the historic Gray family farm-house in the
Old Irving neighborhood, because recent ownership has changed hands and the
fear is that the large lot will be too tempting for its new owners not to
subdivide or even tear down the 1870’s era Italianate home altogether. Alderman
Allen has also down-zoned precinct by precinct in Old Irving, down-zoning
entire blocks so as to remove the temptation to subdivide those large lots,
thus preserving the character of that neighborhood.
What does our 45th
Ward Alderman Patrick Levar do? Nothing, Ald. Levar sits on his hands. Is it
out of laziness or ignorance or is it more sinister than that?
Since January 1,
2003, Levar’s campaign committee, “Citizens to Re-elect Patrick J. Levar” has
taken in over $288,000 from individual contributions and many of those
contributions from came from developers.
This begs the
question, “Is our Ward for sale?”
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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