Oak Park moves forward with single-family zoning discussion

In a marathon of a meeting that lasted past 1 a.m. Wednesday, Oak Park’s village board unanimously referred a consultant’s proposal on zoning changes to the Plan Commission to continue the conversation over coming months.  

Jennifer Settle, principal at Opticos, and Marisa Schulz, principal at the urban planning and communications collective All Together, led a presentation at the meeting on July 28 explaining each step of the process to change the single-family zoning ordinance and what the changes could mean. 

“Single-family homes in Oak Park stay, and homeowners keep the right to live in, to sell, to expand, and to rebuild their homes just as they can today,” said Shulz. “What does change is the zoning map, residential districts, and what we are recommending consolidate into neighborhood zones, allowing additional home types like two flats and duplexes that already exist.” 

There were 28 speakers during the public comment portion of the meeting reflecting a range of opinions from tabling the conversation all together, continued calls for a referendum and full support in moving the proposed changes forward. One common theme among many speakers was questions on how the board can ensure these changes actually lead to affordable housing options and not just paving the way for more expensive developments. 

“How confident are you that this will not lead to the wealthy, white, historically protected neighborhoods, becoming more expensive, more unattainable, enriching those homeowners even more while increasing population?” asked Oak Park resident Matt Millman. 

Trustee Jenna Leving Jacobson shared that she has been “very critical” of the proposal despite her overall support.  

“Zoning changes in and of itself do not guarantee affordability, nor maintain or retrieve some of our lost diversity, so that’s why I’ve been very loud and probably annoying about some of those things, particularly the inclusionary housing ordinance,” said Leving Jacobson.  

She also said the board should take responsibility for some of the deficiencies in community outreach that may have led to confusion on what is being proposed.  

Trustee James Taglia has remained an opposing voice on the board, pushing for a referendum in the previous weeks and continuing to advocate for “voters to have a voice.” 

“I support referring the proposal to the plan commission because it is a necessary next step in the village’s review process,” said Taglia. “My yes vote tonight should not be interpreted as an endorsement of the proposal itself, nor does it change my belief that a decision of this magnitude deserves an advisory referendum.” 

Opticos will continue with four public engagement efforts both in-person and virtually before the plan commission’s public hearing tentatively set for Sept. 17. The first outreach meeting is projected to be on Aug. 27 at 6:30 p.m. at the Community Recreation Center on Madison Street.   

Opticos is also working on building online tools such as a zoning comparison map that could go live as early as next week and possibly a Frequently Asked Questions page with the questions proposed during the public comment.