More than 40 Oak Park community members raised concerns Thursday about affordability of homes and how traffic would be affected by proposed changes to village zoning laws.
Most of the public comments made during the Plan Commission’s second hearing at Oak Park and River Forest High School questioned the affect to the village if the recommended changes were allowed including to infrastructure, parks, schools and traffic.
In the proposed changes by Opticos Design, an architecture group partnering with the village, single-unit dwellings would still be allowed in all districts where they’re already permitted and multi-unit buildings would no longer be grouped into just one category, but would be divided into subcategories based on the number of units up to five. Those with six units and more would constitute another category.
Many residents said the process is being rushed, they don’t know the potential affect of the changes because of a lack of information and said the changes would make the village less affordable.
“Whoever’s going to go buy these units and redevelop them is going to develop them to whatever they’re going to make the most amount of money for,” said Sanjay Shivpuri. “You can expect luxury units, you can expect them to get the highest amount of rent they can possibly squeeze out of the area.”
Supporters of the changes, like David Teeghman, an executive committee chair for Chicago’s Sierra Club, said it would allow for more public parks and shared green space in Oak Park.
He also said his organization supports the initiaitve and that if the zoning changes are approved, it would add “environmentally friendly, gently housing density to this transit rich community.”
“Single-family only zoning is a tool of segregation that intentionally raises housing costs to decrease the racial and economic diversity of our communities as we face an affordable housing crisis,” Teeghman said. “We cannot let a relic of Jim Crow like single-family-only zoning hold Oak Park back from living up to its inclusive values.”
Among the recommendations is a change that would change the village’s single-family residential districts to neighborhood residential districts, potentially opening them up to multi-unit housing.
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Fran Lefor Rood, a managing partner with SB Friedman, presented a feasibility study that suggests the recommended changes would not be feasible.
The study looked at converting existing single-family homes into multi-unit residences, standalone accessory dwelling units and multi-unit buildings.
Tearing down existing homes on land that is more than 6,000 square feet of the property and constructing multi-family units would produce a financial gap that makes the construction infeasible, according to the study.
The additional funds to bridge that gap for a duplex, fourplex and sixplex would be $220,000, $170,000 and $110,000, respectively, the study states.
To make the funds up, the rent would need to be $6,600 to $7,500 for a duplex, $4,400 to $5,100 for a fourplex and $3,800 to $4,400 for a sixplex.
The financial gap for 35-unit buildings was nearly $6 million to be feasible. The rent prices would be $3,500 to reach a yield on cost of about 6%.
The most feasible option were accessory dwelling units with a financial gap of $90,000 and rent expected to cost $1,800.
Lefor Rood said if zoning changes were approved, she doesn’t anticipate rapid redevelopments in neighborhoods or corridors.
“Overall, the financial feasibility we found for each of these prototypes, as you’ve seen, is pretty challenging,” Lefor Rood said.
The Plan Commission’s first hearing took place Oct. 8.
“We want to be fair about this process, we can’t learn if there’s any disruption from the audience,” Plan Commission member Michael Sturino said during the first meeting. “Everyone who wants to be heard, ultimately, I can’t promise tonight, will be heard. We will listen to you, too, but I’m gonna ask for some civility and respect.”
“We love Oak Park just like all of you do and I just want us to be proud of this community from this public hearing.”
Several times throughout the first meeting, the crowd would clap in agreement or talk over the commission in disapproval of what the members had to say.
One example was when the audience agreed with Commissioner Jon Hale when he said he did not feel comfortable changing the terminology of “family” to “unit” in the recommendations.
“Regardless of what people think, it connotes somehow, I mean, I think we all understand zoning, we would all understand what a single-family home means,” Hale said. “To me, it doesn’t seem very accurate.”
Commissioner Juan Betancur questioned the purpose of the entire zoning changes and why the Village Board would approve it.
Village Planner Mike Bruce said the purpose is to increase Oak Park’s “missing middle housing” which includes duplexes, townhomes and small multi-unit buildings, “to improve affordability, sustainability, equity and inclusion,” according to the village website.
The addition of missing middle housing is said to provide a thoughtful addition that honors Oak Park’s character. Other consultants associated with the project answered questions from the Plan Commission.
Betancur also questioned the percentage of the housing units in Oak Park that are not single-family, but Jennifer Settle, the principal at Opticos Design, said they were primarily looking at middle housing.
The next public hearing meeting is at 7 p.m. on Nov. 12 at Village Hall, 123 Madison St., Oak Park. If there are more comments after that hearing, another would be held Dec. 3.
Once the hearings conclude, the Plan Commission will vote on the proposed zoning changes and send its recommendation to the Village Board, which has the final vote.
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