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SEP 29, 2026
UNLOCKEDCouncil to consider parking meter lease transfer, delay votes on dueling rental reform proposals
The City Council meets on Dec. 16, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]
After a delay last week, the City Council on Tuesday is set to consider the transfer of the rights to the city’s parking meters under a revised concession agreement. The council is under a Sept. 30 deadline to approve the deal. The council will meet at 10 a.m.
Since the delayed vote Friday, Stonepeak — the firm intending to purchase the meter rights — has addressed one of the major concerns from holdouts on the council.
Alderpeople had voiced concerns about Stonepeak’s investment in Omni Air International, a company that provides long-haul deportation flights for the federal government. While Stonepeak had committed to trying to sell Omni if the parking meter rights transfer went through, alderpeople last week voiced additional concerns about the ability for the city to hold the firm accountable if the charter flight provider wasn’t eventually sold.
But that concern may now be behind them. On Monday morning, Air Transport Services Group, Inc., a firm owned by Stonepeak that has Omni under its umbrella, announced the sale of Omni to OAI Holdings, LLC.
Under the transfer deal negotiated between the transacting parties and the city, the city would be paid a one-time, $75 million transfer fee, receive five percent of the annual profits of the parking meter system and receive a two percent fee on the sale price of any future transfers.
The profit share is expected to yield the city $376.2 million over the 57 years remaining on the lease. The transfer fee revenue and profit-sharing revenues will be put toward the city’s pension liabilities.
The new terms also allow an increase in the threshold at which true-up payments for event-related parking space closures become effective for seven annual events. For those seven, the city will not trigger the payment until parking spots are offline for over 10 hours in a given day rather than after six hours.
Other terms include new Chicago residency quotas for staff, restrictions on the new owners sharing user data with immigration authorities, a longer, more thorough procedure for future transfer approvals that would involve a recommendation from the chief financial officer and a commitment by Stonepeak to partner with the city on a potential expansion of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
The council is expected to vote on those same terms Tuesday.
Alderpeople on Tuesday also are expected to delay final votes on the Protecting Renters Ordinance (PRO) and Fair Accountability in Rentals (FAIR) Ordinance, which represent dueling proposals to overhaul the city’s rental housing code. Both passed out of separate committees and were deferred at last week’s regular council meeting.
For more on those ordinances:
- Housing committee advances amended version of Protecting Renters Ordinance without ‘Just Cause,’ relocation payment provisions
- Zoning committee advances FAIR ordinance, setting stage for negotiations over RLTO reform ahead of council meeting
On Monday, Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), who is the lead sponsor of the FAIR Ordinance, and Ald. Maria Hadden (49), the chair of the council's Progressive Caucus, which is backing PRO, released a joint statement announcing their intentions to call off planned votes on each piece of legislation.
“Over the past several weeks, we have been engaged in ongoing conversations with our colleagues about both the FAIR and PRO ordinances and how we can find common ground on a path forward,” the two alderpeople said. “Those conversations have been productive, and we believe we are getting closer to an agreement. We want to give that process the time and space it needs to continue ... Our shared goal is to reach an agreement that strengthens protections for Chicago renters while supporting the continued development of the housing our city needs. We will continue working with our colleagues in good faith to find a solution that can earn broad support.”
Finally, the council could take a final vote on a measure that would bump the threshold for approving new city debt from a simple 26-vote majority to a three-fifths majority, requiring 30 council members to vote to approve. That measure was also delayed at last week’s regular meeting.
