Chicago's Ready for Reform
Payton Chung
Question: How does one decide what can, or cannot,
be built on every plot of land in a highly diverse city of nearly 3 million people and 228
square miles?
The answer, of course, is very carefully. Especially if
you happen to be a member of the Mayor's Zoning Reform Commission, the task force that
will overhaul the city's 43-year-old zoning ordinance and map. Make that very, very
carefully if you happen to be Alderman William J.P. Banks (36th) or Loop attorney John
Schmidt, the co-chairs of the effort.
Then again, the commission is apt to get a lot of help,
and not just from the professional consultants being hired by the city to assist with the
huge amount of technical detail. Many developers, no doubt, will try to make a case for
higher permissible densities. . . or at least against down-zoning. Industrial owners will
lobby against residential encroachment and strip mall entrepreneurs will fight higher
requirements for off-street parking.
But who's going to stick up for the little guy? You know,
the two-flat owner who doesn't want a five-story cinderblock condo in the middle of his or
her block, or a curb lined with parked cars belonging to people shopping at the
convenience mall around the corner?
Who? The Metropolitan Planning Council, that's who.
Tracking, and influencing, the rewrite of Chicago's archaic zoning ordinance will be a
major priority for MPC during 2001, and indeed, for however long it takes to get the job
done. MPC's Urban Development Committee is on the case and one of our vice-chairs, Lester
H. McKeever, Jr., is actually a member of the rewrite commission.
The job won't be easy or brief. Zoning is one of the
touchiest issues in any city, much less one as political as Chicago. As Congressman Danny
Davis, former chairman of the city council's Zoning Committee, once put it: "The way
you zone dictates the character of the entire city, the physical being of the city, the
quality of life in the neighborhoods."
Zoning regulates the size, shape, and use of the
structures in which we spend 90% of our lives. It shapes the patterns of city life, from
daily commutes and evening walks in the park to weekend errand runs and morning greetings.
Zoning has the power to keep buildings, and hence their occupants, apart . . .or to bring
them together. To be fair, the 1957 code, with its strict separation of uses, arithmetic
density formulas and modernist bent, has done a more-than-credible job of protecting
residential areas from nuisances and attracting huge investments in the form of downtown
office towers.
But times have changed. There are not just new
technologies but new lifestyles, new aesthetics, new expectations about creature comforts,
convenience and, in general, quality of life.
A new code, for instance, could promote development that
strengthens and extends Chicago's existing fabric of transit- and pedestrian-friendly
neighborhoods. It could encourage mixed uses, compact development and good urban design.
It could bring back walk-able neighborhoods: places where residents can easily walk, bike
or use mass transit to accomplish their daily tasks.
The new zoning code also could do much to maintain the
appearance of Chicago's neighborhoods. A formalized set of design guidelines and an
easier-to-understand code would help mediate disputes between developers and neighborhood
residents by creating clear expectations for both sides. Establishing a "parks/open
space" zoning district, for instance, would protect treasured green spaces from
intrusion by schools, government offices and related parking lots. The city could take its
downtown zoning bonus system citywide, securing river-walks and other public amenities
from developers in exchange for higher densities or relief from certain requirements.
Fortunately, Chicago doesn't have to reinvent the wheel.
Several cities, from distant San Diego to nearby Elmhurst, have encouraged walk-able
neighborhoods using special zoning districts around transit stations. They've
"legalized" the way people live today by zoning for buildings that combine
residential and business uses, corner groceries and live-work lofts. Land uses which
require lots of space, or which bring in lots of cars (like car washes or vast parking
lots) can be positioned so as not to break up walk-able business districts. Appropriate
density designations can focus development and activity where the transportation
infrastructure can handle it. Well-designed, human-scale buildings can create memorable,
attractive urban places without the overcrowding and sterility that many associate with
high densities.
The new zoning code can also help to address the city's
affordable housing crisis. "Inclusionary zoning" laws, like those in Boston, New
York and Montgomery County, Maryland, grant density bonuses or other incentives to
developers of mixed-income housing. Seattle recently re-legalized coach houses and
mother-in-law apartments in single-family neighborhoods. More permissive siting of
transitional shelters and single-residence-occupancy hotels (SROs) could spur attempts to
provide for the homeless.
None of these changes will come easily, which is why
several previous attempts at a comprehensive rewrite end up as dusty consultant's reports
on the planning shelf at City Hall. Indeed, the planning supervisor for Minneapolis
recently warned Chicago to "be prepared for an eight to ten year process."
However long it takes, MPC will be there-watching,
listening, advocating for higher standards and, of course, looking out for the little guy.
© 2000 Metropolitan Planning Council. Special thanks
to John McCarron.
Payton Chung is an activist and urban
policy consultant in Chicago.