I have been to two rezoning meetings and the Oct. 8 Plan Commission meeting. The board members appear bright, thoughtful, and care deeply about our village. Unfortunately from the information presented I don’t understand what rezoning will accomplish.
There are reportedly 25,000 total housing units in Oak Park; 11,000 are single-family homes and 14,000 are multi-units. What metric shows 14,000 multi-family units to be insufficient?
Certain terms are used over and over by the board to promote zoning change. These terms are: “missing middle,” “affordable housing,” and “diverse housing.”
In my opinion there is not a “missing middle” in Oak Park. Does anyone know how many 2-, 4-, and 6-unit apartments and condos already exist in Oak Park? Perhaps if we know these numbers we will have found the missing middle.
The term “affordable housing” sounds like an important goal. It sounds compassionate for those who can’t afford a decent place to live. In the second zoning meeting, the board used the term more than 15 times. I still have not heard a definition. History tells us prices are not coming down. This is a result of inflation and the desirability of living in Oak Park.
A feasibility study by SB Friedman (cited in a Wednesday Journal article) calculated that zoning changes are likely to produce apartment rentals from $3,800 in a 6-flat to $6,600 in a 2-flat. I discovered that current rentals in larger multi-unit buildings go for less than half that.
Does “diverse housing” mean we want to ensure people of color are represented in our village? Well, according to the 2025 Census Bureau, 60% of residents are Caucasian, 18% are African-American, 9% are multiracial, Hispanic and Latino are 9%, and Asian 5.5%. I don’t know if a change in zoning will increase diversity.
In some ways rezoning is a solution in search of a problem.
Joel Sherr
Oak Park
