Who Are We Building For?
Every new home, storefront, or redevelopment changes the neighborhood around it. Sometimes that change creates homes for families who need them or brings new activity to a commercial corridor. Intentional development considers who gets to benefit from that growth, who gets to have a say in it, and whether the people who already call our neighborhoods home can see themselves in what comes next.
Zoning Map Amendments and the Community Process
A zoning map amendment is a request to change the zoning designation of a property, which can change what can be built there and how the property can be used. In the 26th Ward, we use community-led zoning to consider changes. There is no single meeting, survey, or committee that represents our entire community, yet alone our community zoning process. Different proposals require different levels of review. Today, a zoning map amendment generally begins with our office reviewing the proposal and determining what additional community review is appropriate. Our Zoning Advisory Committee (ZAC), community meetings, resident surveys, direct conversations with neighbors and community organizations, and continued conversations with development teams all play different roles in that process. Since 2023, over 40 zoning map change requests have been approved to move through the development pipeline.
Community input is not ceremonial. Proposals change in response to concerns about affordability, density, parking, family-sized units, commercial space, and how a development fits into the context of a neighborhood. This is how good governance works! Sometimes the answer is support. Sometimes we ask for changes. And sometimes a proposal does not move forward.
A meaningful community process is sometimes portrayed as an obstacle to building housing but our record tells a different story. Since May 2023, more than 800 affordable homes have moved forward in their process or come online across the 26th Ward, with even more market-rate and mixed-income housing in the development pipeline. These affordable homes include family-sized apartments, senior housing, deeply affordable units supported by CHA vouchers, and the preservation of existing affordable housing.
Zoning map amendments can promote new purposes for properties that have sat vacant or underused for years. Encuentro Square Phase I opened with 89 affordable homes. The historic Pioneer Arcade at 1539 N. Pulaski is being transformed into 61 affordable homes for seniors. Humboldt Village will transform the former Von Humboldt school into more than 100 affordable homes alongside community-serving space. A long-vacant church at 3300 W. Pierce is moving through the process to become 20 homes while preserving and reusing the existing building.
Other proposals, including the mixed-use development at 3208-16 W. Armitage, have gone through ZAC and community review as residents and our office have pushed for stronger affordability and commitments that better reflect community needs. I am grateful for Eric’s collaboration and effort, and we look forward to making an announcement about the plans soon.
My office is especially focused on residents with the fewest choices in a changing housing market: families searching for an apartment they can actually afford, seniors trying to age in place, voucher holders struggling to find landlords who will accept them, renters facing displacement –the list goes on. When we make decisions with consequences that can last for decades, we cannot lose sight of the people for whom a changing neighborhood can mean fewer choices, fewer places they can afford, and fewer opportunities to remain.
A community-driven process will never mean that everyone agrees. It means offering opportunities for residents to participate, taking that input seriously, asking more of proposals, and making decisions with the long-term needs of the ward in mind.
Next week, I will share more about legislation and preservation districts that I helped pass in order to further protect the housing stock, along with the commercial projects that have been approved.
