Chicago needs strong schools, hospitals, cultural institutions and nonprofits. While some of those institutions serve the public, others, such as private schools, primarily serve those willing and able to pay for their services. Their tax-free status means they do not contribute to paying for city services. Further, when they purchase private property to expand their campuses, they compensate the owner of the land, but they do not compensate the city for the permanent loss of tax revenue.
It’s time to ask more of private schools when they want to expand their campuses at taxpayers’ expense.
The case of Francis W. Parker, an elite private school in Lincoln Park that has enjoyed tax-exempt status since 1932, perfectly illustrates what is at stake. Parker plans to convert a midblock, 15-unit multifamily building on West Belden Avenue into school space, add a pedestrian bridge over a public alley and install stadium lights on its athletic field. According to the school, the project would add space for roughly 125 students and 30 employees.
Parker’s proposal has real, human costs that affect not just a block, but the entire city. It would swallow up housing when we are trying to enact policies to grow our housing stock. It would displace families and permanently alter a vibrant residential neighborhood when we are trying to keep eyes and ears on our streets and shoppers in our local stores. Most of all, we lose property that contributes to the local tax base and funds important public services.
Public policy professor David Merriman of the University of Illinois Chicago used a common financial analysis tool to determine the value today of all the future taxes the multifamily building would generate and compared that to the value today of the benefits Parker claims are associated with the proposal. Merriman valued the building’s tax revenue at more than $10 million in today’s terms. Offsetting those loses was less than $1 million in public benefits. Taxpayers lose 10-1. Losing future tax revenue means our public schools, parks, city services and aging infrastructure suffer because of a tax-exempt private institution’s expansion plans.
We should all be alarmed. This is not about one residential building. Over the years, allowing these repeated acquisitions adds up, shifting the financial burden to those of us left behind. Why should city residents accept lower service levels or be forced to pick up the tab for private institutions?
Parker’s plans also call for athletic field lighting. Parker’s field sits immediately across the street from homes. Parker plans to light its field and run events from 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and to increase use of the field, bringing more traffic and noise to a quiet, residential block, putting further stress on our public streets and services that the taxpayers support.
Why should residents lose the quiet use of their homes so a private institution can expand its campus and extend its operating hours?
Parker tried to add stadium lighting before in 2012. The attempt resulted in a city ordinance banning permanent lighting on the athletic field. Parker claims that new technology will make lights a nonissue; however, the proposed lighting technology has not been certified to be placed within 65 feet of residences anywhere. Additionally, the lighting does not resolve the public nuisance and noise issues that will result from extended field usage. The city should protect the homeowners and renters who want to live peacefully in their homes. New lighting technology does not change the central conflict between a residential neighborhood and a private institution looking for heavier, more intensive use of property next door.
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In this case, the community has done more than simply object. Residents hired an architect and put together a thoughtful, comprehensive alternative proposal that addresses Parker’s stated needs while preserving housing and maintaining the neighborhood’s character. That better proposal shows that Parker can improve its campus to meet its educational goals without tearing down occupied homes or placing noise and congestion burdens on nearby residents.
Chicago should require every private institution seeking to expand into residential neighborhoods to account for the loss of housing and tax revenue and the increase in noise, traffic, lighting and other harms. Our elected officials must include residents in the planning process before negotiation begins and before voting starts at City Hall. In this case, the city has so far ignored written petitions from over 2,000 residents and has not involved local neighborhood associations in negotiations with Parker.
As a result, the proposal remains tilted too far in favor of private interests over the public good.
The Chicago Plan Commission should reject Parker’s applications. If it is unwilling to do so, it should postpone any vote until an updated traffic study is made public, community members have meaningful time to review and respond, and the community’s alternative plan has received serious consideration. Rather than dismissing the community’s work, Parker and the city should engage with residents in good faith to develop a plan that meets the school’s needs while responding to legitimate community concerns. A workable path should be shaped through real collaboration, not imposed after the most important choices have already been made.
This issue extends beyond Parker and Lincoln Park. Without firm standards, private tax-exempt institutions will keep buying up residential property and turning our neighborhoods into extensions of their campuses, at our expense. Once homes are demolished, properties are removed from the tax base, and neighborhood character is lost, Chicago cannot get them back.
Kelsey Burr is an 18-plus-year resident of Lincoln Park and a founding member of East Lincoln Park Neighbors, a nonprofit volunteer organization established by residents to protect and preserve the historical and architectural character of the community.
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