Giving developers automatic variances if they build affordable housing units without the public having the right to object has become a line members of some Naperville advisory bodies don’t wish to cross.
Naperville Planning and Zoning Commission members this week unanimously voted against recommending a voluntary incentive program to tackle the city’s problem with a lack of affordable housing.
That action comes on the heels of the city’s Human Rights and Fair Housing Commission giving the concept a lukewarm reception, and the Naperville Park Board sending a letter in which members urged the city to reconsider the provisions as they apply to land-cash donations.
The final decision is in the hands of the Naperville City Council.
In 2018, the Illinois Housing Development Authority notified Naperville that 7.5% of its housing stock qualifies as affordable, less than the 10% required.
In an attempt to address the shortage, the council has been considering a three-tier system through which regulatory “carrots” would be used to encourage developers to build housing for low- to moderate-income households.
Those inducements could include density bonuses and breaks on requirements for yards and setbacks, floor area ratios, parking, building height, exterior wall construction materials, open space and park impact fees.
Planning and Zoning Chairman Bruce Hanson said he understands a lot of work went into creating the proposed program. “I do think that there’s more work to be done, and I hope that we’ll get there,” he said.
Naperville is a city where residents are actively involved and come to meetings to raise the very issues provided as incentives to developers, Hanson said.
“It really doesn’t pass the smell test very well from where I’m sitting,” he said.
The public hearing process, Hanson said, is designed to protect property owners’ rights while concurrently leveling the playing field for innovators, investors and the city itself.
“It is true that Naperville has the unique benefit of a highly specialized and qualified planning staff,” he said. “However, the public should not be precluded from being involved in determining how, where and whether development proceeds. Government should not operate that way.”
Commissioner Whitney Robbins said she’s struggling with the program giving the developer the right to receive a variance with no hearing or vote.
Human Rights and Fair Housing Commission Chairman Bradford Miller expressed similar concerns as did the Naperville Park Board.
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Park district Executive Director Brad Wilson sent a letter on the board’s behalf in which he said the board understands the need for an incentive program and it supports affordable housing.
“The concern remains for the immediate ‘right’ for developers to receive an automatic 50% reduction in land-cash fees,” Wilson wrote. “The Park Board, as well as staff, would like to reiterate the request that this language be removed from the incentives program and we will continue to look at new developments and land-cash fees on a case-by-case basis.”
The proposed program came about after the City Council in January 2021 directed staff to begin work on a zoning ordinance that would require developers to include affordable options in new housing developments.
Council members later indicated they’d prefer a system in which the developer is given benefits ? higher densities, reduced parking spaces or an expedited approval process ? in exchange for a percentage of units being affordable.
After months of research, city consultant Fran Lefor Rood, senior vice president of SB Friedman, presented the council in November with the framework for an opt-in program. It was honed and presented to the public at a Human Rights and Fair Housing Commission meeting in April.