Ward Zoning and Planning Committee Meeting: 7/18/05

A series of questions was presented to the committee to enable delegates to create a 48th Ward policy on the Chicago Partnership for Affordable Neighborhoods (CPAN) set aside. This was a continuation from the 6/29 special Ward Zoning and Planning meeting on creating a CPAN policy.

The first vote at this meeting was taken on whether even to establish a policy. Fifteen responded yes and 6 no. Then the group was asked about which projects should include a CPAN requirement. The consensus by a vote of 26 to 7 was that a 10 percent CPAN set aside should be required in developments of 10 units or greater when an upzoning or Planned Development is needed. Then the committee considered what percentage of the set aside should be made available in a lottery to local residents. The agreement was 50 percent with 17 delegates voting to limit lottery participants to the 48th Ward and 13 voting that lottery applicants should come from Edgewater Uptown. A proposal to require a contribution from developers of less than 10 units was withdrawn pending further study. A motion was made to require developers of 10 units or more where an upzoning or Planned Development is required to set aside 10 percent of the units for CPAN; that the CPAN buyers be determined by lottery with 50 percent coming from the 48th Ward and 50 percent coming from city wide (including 48th Ward residents who were not successful in the first lottery). The question of density bonuses was raised but no recommendation was added to the motion since the city has created the bonuses only for downtown properties. The motion passed with 23 in favor and 12 opposed. Greg Harris, 48th Ward Chief of Staff, will research the question of zoning bonuses and the Low Income Housing Trust Fund as an option for contributions from developers.

Greg reported that the Sheridan Board rezoning proposal was heard but not voted on by the City Coouncil Committee on Zoning. The proposal seeks to rezone underdeveloped parcels on Sheridan that could possibly be developed as high rise sites under current zoning. The ordinances call for a change from R6 to R5.5 north of Hollywood and from B4-4 to B4-3 from Hollywood to Foster. These changes would limit height of new construction on most buildable lots to 6 stories. Greg also presented a possible amendment to rezone the areas to B2-3 so that all residential buildings rather than buildings with commercial space on the first floor could be built without a special use. There are several lots where development proposals are currently being considered where Planned Development status probably would be required. These are not currently included in the rezoning proposal. A motion to adopt the proposal to rezone the recommended underdeveloped lots on Sheridan was unanimously approved. Approval of the rezoning will be recommended by Alderman Smith to the Committee on Zoning.

5800 N. Glenwood: The committee next heard a previously tabled proposal to develop a 6-unit condominium on a wedge shaped property at Ridge and Glenwood currently used as a parking lot. Developers Tim Cochran and David Krug needed a special use permit to build an all-residential building in a B zone, with a rear yard reduction from the required 45 feet to 40 feet, an exception to the minimum lot area from ? square feet to 930 square feet, a height exception to erect a 48.8 foot instead of a 45 foot building, and a curb cut on Glenwood. Tom Moore, attorney, represented the developers. A letter was presented outlining the reasons the BARGE block club opposed the development. ETNA, Edgewater Community Council and Edgewater Development Corporation all indicated approval. ECC and EDC indicated they had worked with the developer to improve the Glenwood elevation of the building to make the facade more pedestrian friendly and compatible with the street. A motion to approve the special use and exceptions was passed with 18 in favor and 3 opposed.

5206 N. Broadway: Garrett Realty Group proposed building a 100 unit mixed-use condominium building with parking on the site formerly occupied by the Piser Funeral Home, This would be a Planned Development. The facade of the corner building at Foster and Broadway would be incorporated into the development. The developers, represented by Attorney Gary Wigoda, explained that originally they had envisioned a 78 unit building with underground parking, but that plan would not have worked economically. Then they proposed a development with a parking structure on the site. The community was opposed to the parking structure. They then determined that 110 units and 45,000 feet of commercial/retail space were necessary to make underground parking feasible. The building would be five stories high. Two site plans were presented to the committee, one with alley access and one without alley access as requested by neighbors in the 5200 block of Magnolia and LBRC. Several delegates expressed their organization's support for alley access. A traffic study will be done by the city because of the Planned Development status of the project. A motion was made to approve the site plan that did not provide alley access. The motion passed by a vote of 19 to 1. The developers had previously agreed to a five percent set aside for CPAN. Committee members requested that the minutes reflect this agreement was reached prior to establishment of a 48th Ward CPAN policy and should not be considered a precedent.

The August meeting was called off as a summer holiday. The next meeting is scheduled for September 28, 2005.