- Credibility:
LOGAN SQUARE — In response to community pushback, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) has scaled back the controversial Milwaukee Avenue rezoning plan, which was first proposed in 2017 to thwart unwanted development in gentrifying Logan Square and Avondale.
Ramirez-Rosa’s new plan, introduced Wednesday in City Council in a series of proposed ordinances, calls for slashing zoning at 14 parcels along Milwaukee Avenue between Kedzie Boulevard and Central Park Avenue — parcels the alderman and his staffers have identified as vulnerable to dense development.
The original plan, first proposed in fall of 2017, called for a “blanket downzone” of the Milwaukee Avenue stretch. Under that plan, the alderman would’ve slashed zoning at all of the 99 parcels along the stretch.
The original plan didn’t go over well with some neighbors, who, at an emotionally charged community meeting in 2017, called it everything from “absurd” to a “sledgehammer approach.” They argued the “blanket downzone” would impede economic progress and wouldn’t properly address the neighborhoods’ challenges.
Others, however, used the meeting to applaud the plan. They said rezoning is the best and only tool available to foster more thoughtful conversations around new developments in the hot neighborhoods.
Ramirez-Rosa noted that ultimately 80 percent of the residents who filled out a comment card at the 2017 meeting (only about 50 people out of the more than 150 people in attendance) were in support of the plan.
“You look at the comment cards and see that 80 percent are in support of the downzone and that reflects the folks who took the time to fill out a comment card,” the alderman said.
“The folks who were in opposition were very loud and did speak very boisterously.”
Ramirez-Rosa said what he took away from the meeting and the subsequent community feedback is that residents felt the rezoning plan was “too expansive.”
In an effort to address the issue, the alderman’s office assessed each site along the stretch and determined which were the most vulnerable to dense development. The 14 parcels they identified have zoning designations that would allow a developer to come in and build something taller and denser than what currently exists and to demolish an existing building — all without any layers of approval.
Below are the 14 parcels:
- 2620-2634 N. Milwaukee Ave.
- Current use: a mix of one, two, and three-story buildings
- Current zoning: B3-3 (allows up to 4 stories)
- Proposed new zoning: B3-1 (allows up to 3 stories)
- 2643-2651 N. Milwaukee Ave.
- Current use: two-story building
- Current zoning: B3-3 (allows up to 6 stories)
- Proposed new zoning: B3-1 (allows up to 3 stories)
- 2816 N. Milwaukee Ave. (3424 W. Diversey Ave.)
- Current use: vacant
- Current: B2-2 (allows up to 4 stories)
- Proposed new zoning: B2-1 (allows up to 3 stories)
- 2832-2834 N. Milwaukee Ave.
- Current use: one-story building
- Current zoning: B2-2 (allows up to 4 stories)
- Proposed new zoning: B2-1 (allows up to 3 stories)
- 2854 N. Milwaukee Ave.
- Current use: two-story building
- Current zoning: B2-2 (allows up to 4 stories)
- Proposed new zoning: B2-1 (allows up to 3 stories)
- 2875 N. Milwaukee Ave.
- Current use: two-story building
- Current zoning: B2-2 (allows up to 4 stories)
- Proposed new zoning: B2-1 (allows up to 3 stories)
- 3334 W. Diversey Ave.
- Current use: parking lot
- Current zoning: B3-2 (allows up to 4 stories)
- Proposed new zoning: B1-1 (allows up to 3 stories)
- 3350 W. Diversey Ave.
- Current use: two-story building
- Current zoning: B1-3 (allows up to 4 stories)
- Proposed new zoning: B1-1 (allows up to 3 stories)
By reducing each site’s zoning to a designation that only allows for a three-story building, Ramirez-Rosa is forcing developers and new property owners and business owners to come to him when they want to build something taller and denser than what the zoning will allow.
“Most of the buildings along Milwaukee Avenue are three stories tall. This is saying, if someone comes along and buys a one-story building, they’re not going to be able to [automatically] build four or six stories,” Ramirez-Rosa said.
The new plan is “much more precise” than the original, he said.
“We listened to the community. We said, ‘we know the community wants to see a downzone of Milwaukee’ but we wanted to address the issue of [expansiveness],” he said.
The ordinances are still a long way from approval. They need approval from the city’s Committee on Zoning and then the full City Council. It’s unclear when the ordinances will be considered by the city’s Committee on Zoning.
The strategy of changing zoning to control development is sometimes criticized for being a blunt instrument that not only promotes stagnation, but also gives already-powerful aldermen even more control over what gets built in their wards. But proponents of the tool argue it’s a proactive measure that fosters more thoughtful conversations around new development.
The idea of rezoning Milwaukee Avenue started with a group of Avondale property owners and business owners. At the time, they said rezoning is “the most effective way” to prevent Avondale from turning into Logan Square, particularly the development-heavy area around the California Blue Line station.
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