The public engagement portion of the proposed changes to the Oak Park zoning code moved into high gear last week with six separate events intended to inform and seek input from Oak Parkers about the proposed changes to local zoning that would eliminate districts that allow only single-family homes.
“The idea is to allow more two flats, three flats and four flats but no specific threshold,” said Craig Failor, the village’s development services director, at a session Saturday at Oak Park Village Hall that drew approximately 100 people.
Village staff and officials, and one of their consultants, emphasized that the proposed changes are designed to increase housing options in Oak Park and would not prohibit or even limit single family homes. They told what mostly seemed to be skeptical audiences that changes stemming from new zoning would be gradual and not that noticeable.
“If we got 15 new homes a year that would be a lot,” said Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman at the meeting on Saturday. “You’re not going to see an overnight change, you’re going to see a change over time. We can build new housing and maintain our character at the same time.”
Village Trustee Brian Straw is a strong proponent of the proposed change to increase what is called “missing middle” housing, that is duplexes, two flats, three and four flats, and in some limited instances, six-unit buildings. His views were in sync with Scaman’s.
“Any changes we see related to this policy will be very gradual,” Straw said.
Both Scaman and Straw described the proposed changes as a return to the way Oak Park used to be before the village’s first zoning code was adopted in 1921.
“We haven’t seen a traditional two flat or three flat built in Oak Park since 1920,” Scaman said. “Our zoning code was passed in 1921.”
Village officials seem to be listening to a lot of the negative feedback they received. Both Scaman and Straw said they are open to considering trying out some of the zoning changes on a trial basis as a pilot project. Straw mentioned putting a limit on the number of new building permits that could be issued over a specific time period, perhaps on a block-by-block basis.
“That would allow us, over time, to study what the impacts of this new policy are,” Straw said.
Increasing demolition fees is another option.
But Straw said changes are needed to make Oak Park more affordable.
“I want my kids to want to grow up and live in Oak Park and be able to afford to live in Oak Park,” Straw said.
According to the Shape Oak Park presentation, 519 parcels of land in Oak Park currently contain legal non-conforming uses meaning that the structures there were built before the current zoning code was adopted. If they burnt down, they couldn’t be rebuilt as is under the current zoning code without some zoning relief.
The proposed changes to the zoning code will be considered at what are likely to be three Plan Commission meetings in October, the first of which will be held Oct. 8 at 6 p.m. in the Oak Park and River Forest High School auditorium, before the village board votes on the zoning changes in November.
The proposed changes to the zoning code would allow two, three, and four unit buildings in all three residential zoning districts in Oak Park. Six unit buildings would be allowed on lots of 5,000 square feet or larger that are within a quarter mile of a bus or el stop. In six-unit buildings two of the units would have to be “affordable.”
Allowable building heights would be increased from 30 to 35 feet in two of the residential zoning districts and from 35 to 50 feet in the new N-2 district. In commercial districts residential buildings would be allowed and those buildings would not have to have a retail space on the ground floor.
The goal of the proposed changes is to allow more small scale multiunit buildings to provide more housing options for downsizers and others looking to remain in or move to Oak Park.
“We want diverse housing,” Scaman said adding that she would like Oak Park to remain socioeconomically and racially diverse.
Making Oak Park more affordable is another goal although village officials said that would be the focus of a phase two with the creation of an ad hoc committee on housing affordability. Both Scaman and Straw said the zoning changes would indirectly increase affordability by providing options cheaper than large single-family homes and by increasing housing supply would reduce the price pressure and bidding wars for existing homes.
“Not everything that is going to be built is going to be affordable but will add to supply,” Scaman said. “I don’t see it as a negative to get some more market rate housing out of this as well. That does still contribute to affordable housing. Hopefully you’re not seeing as much of the outbidding on those affordable homes.”
Scaman said she wants to preserve existing smaller Oak Park homes.
However, many who attended the various sessions remained skeptical or opposed to the proposed changes to the zoning code. A number of attendees told Wednesday Journal that the whole process feels rushed to them.
“I think for us it feels a little rushed,” said Steven Bromley, a 30-something resident of south Oak Park. “We don’t quite understand exactly what the outcomes are supposed to be and it makes us a little nervous, as, like a young family who moved to Oak Park.”
Village Trustee Jim Taglia tried this summer to put an advisory referendum on the proposed zoning changes on the November ballot but was outvoted 5-1 by his colleagues on the village board. In his comments at the Saturday village hall meeting he appeared to speak for many in the audience.
“I would like to see this slow down,” Taglia said to applause at meeting.
Taglia and others want to see more information about how the changes would impact affordability and some would like to see the village focus on affordability before changing the zoning code.
“How many units would we have to build to actually increase affordability,” Taglia said. “It requires a lot more study.”
Wendy Greenhouse, a long time Oak Park resident, said she is open to changing the zoning code and wants to focus on making Oak Park more affordable but had some concerns about what has been proposed.
“I feel like it has not been well framed and well presented,” Greenhouse said. “There’s also a perception that the village board has already decided this is what they want to do because it’s a progressive board. And what we heard today was Trustee Taglia voicing the concerns of many of us. We don’t know. We don’t have enough information. It’s going on too fast.”
Greenhouse said she is not concerned about more small multi-unit buildings.
“I, personally, am very open to zoning changes,” Greenhouse said. “I’m not concerned about a two-flat being inserted between two single family houses. I want to hear that this is not going to facilitate the development of more luxury high rise rental buildings like the ones in downtown Oak Park that I’ve always opposed and which I don’t think has contributed to quality of life here.”
Village officials say the changes to the zoning code are meant to encourage small multiunit buildings not high rises.
“This incremental change is not bringing a new high rise to our community,” Scaman said.
At a Sept. 17 presentation to members of various Oak Park citizen commissions Jim Gates, a former Oak Park Elementary School Board 97 school board president and a member of the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners, said that not having a referendum was a mistake.
“I think we really need to pump the breaks, I think we need to reassess that advisory referendum,” Gates said.
At the Oak Park Conservatory workshop south Oak Park resident William Kunz was blunter.
“If they had a referendum they’d get their asses whipped,” Kunz said.
Some of those attending the meetings said they were concerned about teardowns and developers putting up a significantly taller building next door to them or on their block. They raised concerns about increased congestion, more difficult parking and added stress on local schools and village services.
“I don’t know anyone in my neighborhood who wants to live next to a six-unit building,” said Heidi Spoor, a longtime resident of south Oak Park who attended the Sept. 20 workshop at the Oak Park Conservatory. “That’s not the nature of the neighborhood. It will depress property values.”
Kara Bromley was also concerned about increased density in her south Oak Park neighborhood.
“I don’t want it to be a mini-Chicago,” Bromley said.
Village officials said the overnight parking ban will remain and that builders would likely provide some parking because the market will demand that.
Many seemed to doubt that much of any new housing built as result of the proposed zoning changes would be affordable saying that the high land acquisition costs and high property taxes in Oak Park would mean that mostly luxury units would be built.
One man at the Saturday meeting at village hall didn’t think that Oak Park needed to be all that concerned about serving the “missing middle.”
“The missing middle is Forest Park, it’s Elmwood Park, it’s Berwyn,” said the man who declined to give his name, perhaps thinking of the missing middle in terms of cost as much as housing type.
Failor said the purpose of the zoning changes is to increase affordability by increasing the types of housing available to Oak Park although it remains to be seen how it would work out in practice.
“This whole process is based on creating missing middle affordable housing,” Failor said. “That’s the goal; it might not be the reality.”
There will be one more chance to hear more and offer input before the Plan Commission meets. A virtual workshop will be held on Thursday, Sept. 24, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. You can register to attend at the SHAPE OAK PARK website.