To create more affordable housing, some Oak Park trustees are keen to eliminate single-family zoning, so that multifamily units can be built on lots now zoned for single-family homes, anywhere in the village. Some cite the disturbing racist origins of single-family zoning, instituted originally to keep minorities out.
We bought our home 30+ years ago because our block was biracial. We embrace the diversity here. But we also don’t want our home dwarfed by expanded new construction. We don’t want an apartment built over our neighbor’s garage, with windows and a balcony eavesdropping on our backyard. We don’t want a developer replacing a home next door with a 4-flat apartment building.
That may earn us the pejorative NIMBY.
When a community group opposed a 5-story apartment block nearby, this newspaper said village leaders should have been willing “to offend neighbors with self-interest” But Neighborhood Watch and “Hate Has No Home Here” signs are NIMBY acts too. People should not be disparaged for caring about what happens in their backyards.
Though one trustee has recommended holding a referendum on the issue, others say they have been elected to decide these things. First, one of the seven current trustees was appointed, not elected. Second, I don’t remember any trustees arguing to eliminate single-family zoning during their campaigns. I checked the Wednesday Journal Voting Guides for the last two trustee elections (2025, 2023), to see what each candidate said about affordable housing. Many touted their support for expanding the 2019 Inclusionary Zoning Ordinance. Board President Vicki Scaman supported “reviewing single-family zoning” and said that she was “invested in supporting additional multi-family housing in business districts [and] missing middle development.” Chibuike Enyia said that “exploring zoning changes … can encourage new affordable units.” But no candidate advocated for completely eliminating single-family zoning.
Eliminating single-family zoning is a big, transformative change — the kind of big issue that is worthy of a referendum, especially when trustees did not campaign on it and were not elected with mandates to do it.
Be humble in this decision, trustees. It is true each of you was elected by a large majority (55% to 70%) of actual voters, but because of low turnouts, you each were elected by only 12% to 19% of registered voters. Most people in Oak Park didn’t vote for you.
Be humble for another reason. Thousands of homeowners who decided to put down roots and invest a chunk of their life savings to buy a home in Oak Park did so with the understanding that they were planting their life in a neighborhood zoned for single-family homes. They entered a sort of “contract” with the village, which, by its zoning regulations, promised no large, multifamily apartment buildings would be built next door, no garage next door would be turned into a dwelling. It is a contract that has been in place for decades. Eliminate single-family zoning, and you are breaking a sort of contract that the village made with homebuyers, who deserve a say.
Mark Wallace
Oak Park