According to an article in Wednesday Journal [Eliminating single family zoning up for discussion, News, Aug. 13], the village board is once again talking about eliminating single-family zoning in Oak Park, while not mentioning some of the basic facts of housing life in Oak Park.
According to the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, in 2024 Oak Park’s housing stock was: single family, 40.4%; buildings with 5+ units, 32%; condos, 19.2%; and two- to four-flats, 8.3%. So approximately 28% of Oak Park’s housing stock is currently considered “missing middle.” I have not seen any statistics concerning the board’s goal of a percentage of missing-middle housing in Oak Park. All we know is approximately 28% is not enough.
Now the plan for eliminating single-family zoning is that this is allegedly going to create more availability for missing-middle housing. However, the key factor here is how many vacant parcels of land exist in areas that are zoned single-family housing where someone could build missing-middle housing. Apparently no one employed by the village of Oak Park knows this, so Oak Park taxpayers are paying an outside consultant $200,000 to find out.
According to the Oak Park Area Association of Realtors, in 2024 the average sale price of an Oak Park single-family home was approximately $660,000. I guess the village board’s idea is that if there is no vacant land in single-family zoned areas, Plan B is that someone will buy one of these existing $660,000 houses. They will then tear it down, haul it away, and build a triplex where it stood. Given the size of Oak Park’s lots, this triplex would probably not face the street but have to face the neighboring house.
To me, this whole idea sounds like symbolism over substance, or as Shakespeare once said: “Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” But I could be wrong. After all, the WJ article said in Columbus, Ohio, the outside consultant, Opticos, found space for 90,000 new housing units to be built. A Google search says Oak Park has approximately 24,600 housing units. Good luck finding space for 90,000 new housing units. However, finding space for 90,000 new housing units in Oak Park in itself could be worth $200,000. The village board could already be planning to spend all that new real estate tax revenue.
But rather than symbolism, there is actual substance available for the village board to consider. A Wednesday Journal editorial [That’s a big gas station, Our Views, July 16] stated that the old Mohr Cement site was the largest undeveloped piece of land left in the village of Oak Park. This is the absolute perfect place for the village to zone that land for missing-middle housing: duplexes, triplexes, four-plexes, bungalows and multi-bedroom condos.
What do we hear from our village board? Absolute silence.
Alan Krause
Oak Park