I attended the first community forum on the zoning policy change. What a disaster of a policy. The consultants admitted that converting a single-family home to a 4-unit would result in prices starting at $450K each. That isn’t affordable for most people, especially when the unit will be 1-2 bedrooms. Once developers know Oak Park is open for business, they’ll swoop in and buy every truly affordable home, tear it down, and put up a modern, soulless 4-unit that will not achieve the goals of the village board.
Developers could buy a dozen properties at a time, working their crews to maximum efficiency, moving from lot to lot like locusts. I saw it happen in Wicker Park, Logan Square, and West Town, where new construction drives up the price for everyone. Teardowns are terrible for the environment, ironic for a village that claims to be a leader in this area.
A better, simpler policy would be to fast-track conversions of existing homes to multi-units. Better for the environment and more likely to achieve affordability and the “missing middle” housing rather than new construction.
As a former realtor, I’m confident this zoning change is a gift to developers and realtors, and other realtors have agreed with me. If the village board truly cared about affordability, they’d stop finding creative ways to spend our taxes and reduce our property tax burden, which is the leading cause of why living in Oak Park is not affordable.
Mike Beyer
Oak Park