Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) is pictured at City Council on Sept. 18, 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council on Wednesday approved a replacement zoning committee chair, an ordinance to incentivize the construction of data centers in the city and the appointment of a new chief procurement officer. The council also gave final approval to an anti-gentrification ordinance for the Northwest Side and a controversial appointment to the civilian police oversight commission.

Most notably, the council confirmed Ald. Walter Burnett (27), the city’s vice mayor, to chair the powerful Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards, ending the more than 10-month vacancy created when Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) stepped down last November. Burnett was not at the meeting for the vote.

The Committee on Committees and Rules approved the appointment Monday.

The mayor initially had floated Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25), the current housing committee chair, but the 25th Ward alderperson was unable to garner enough support.  

On Wednesday, the mayor denied during a news conference that he didn’t get to install his preferred pick for zoning chair, instead saying multiple allies were vetted. 

“We have an ally who is my zoning chair,” the mayor said. “That's a good thing. He represents a very diverse community ... There's beauty in that, and there were many names that were discussed. That's the one that I settled on, and that's the one that I got ... I could have settled on someone else.”

The council also approved various legal settlements and allocations of financial assistance to housing developments and a park project that were approved by the Committee on Finance on Monday. 

Related: Finance committee approves millions in police misconduct settlements, TIF funding for housing developments and Kells Park project, delays vote on Pilsen TIF expansion 

The council also approved an ordinance (SO2024-0008201) to require specific types of city data to be stored within the United States in many cases, with some discretion, and would offer incentives to companies that locate data centers in Illinois and Chicago.  

The ordinance, sponsored by Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development chair Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), was approved by the technology committee last week after months of negotiations.

"Listen, we're number two in the country [in] data centers," Villegas said after the vote. "There's no reason why we can't strive for number one, and I think there's an opportunity, given the fact that we have a deficit, this is an opportunity to create new revenue without having to go back to the old levers, property taxes, fines, fees and [tax increment financing] surpluses."

Related: Committee approves incentives for storing data within Illinois and Chicago, which Villegas hopes will spur data center boom within city 

The council also approved the appointment of Chief Procurement Officer Sharla Roberts, whose appointment passed the contracting committee last week. Roberts succeeds Aileen Velazquez, who was terminated from the job two months ago with council approval of a severance agreement and whose performance was criticized. 

Related: New chief procurement officer appointment advances through contracting committee  

Roberts is the former director of procurement diversity at the University of Illinois, former chief diversity officer for the Illinois Department of Central Management Services and former chair of the certification and compliance committees of the Illinois Business Enterprise Council. 

“Procurement touches every single department in our city,” said Ald. Matt O’Shea (19). “We’ve got a lot of making up to do.”

“Now we finally have a partner in the procurement officer that will help us look into the antiquated codes and ordinances that have prevented African Americans from doing business with the city of Chicago,” Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16) said.

“We are looking forward to seeing what you build for others as we make better the city for everyone,” Ald. William Hall (6) said. 

The council approved the Northwest Side Housing Preservation Ordinance (SO2024-0011001), a measure from a coalition of alderpeople aimed at preserving affordable two-, three- and four-flats in their wards.

Related: Alderpeople pushing for ordinance to protect affordable housing on Northwest Side

Ald. Bill Conway (34), Ald. Bennett Lawson (44) and Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) voted no.

But the ordinance did not gain approval without the issue becoming a proxy for the fight to retain the expiring ShotSpotter contract. After Conway said he objected to the economic reasoning behind the proposal, Ramirez-Rosa defended the ordinance, saying it had the backing of broad swaths of the communities served and a diverse collection of stakeholder groups. 

“We’ve done the work to make sure that we craft a policy that’s in the best interest of our neighborhoods,” Ramirez-Rosa said.

“If we as a city want to be cutting red tape and encouraging investment in our neighborhoods, we should not be constricting the supply of housing,” Conway said. “I believe this will have the opposite effect of what we’re trying to do.” 

“This ordinance, in addition to preserving that middle housing that our communities already have, it also makes it easier to build that middle housing,” Ramirez-Rosa said. 

The ordinance, which roughly covers Hermosa, Logan Square, Avondale, West Town and Humboldt Park, will increase the demolition surcharge on multifamily buildings, disallow the conversion of apartment buildings into single-family homes in areas that are mostly multifamily buildings, allow tenants to purchase their apartment building if it goes on sale and allow the construction of two-flats by right in single-family home zones. 

Ramirez-Rosa’s comments and others about listening to local alderpeople stirred members of the council who want to keep ShotSpotter, as they have argued that the mayor should listen to local alderpeople who want to keep it in their wards.

“There is a very sanctimonious double standard on display here right now,” said Ald. Raymond Lopez (15). “If you were to change the wording, I swear our arguments for gunshot [detection] technology were used for this.”

The council also approved an ordinance (SO2024-0010158) sponsored by Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) that will gradually raise open space impact fees on residential developers. The Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation approved the measure earlier this month. 

Related: Special events, cultural affairs and recreation committee approves appointment of new Park District commissioner, ordinance to raise open space impact fees 

Alderpeople also approved an ordinance (O2024-0010913) to require city coordination for restoring the sidewalk following permitted pavement restoration work that removes at least 60 percent of the sidewalk on an impacted block. The Committee on Transportation and Public Way approved the measure earlier this month. 

Finally, the council approved the controversial appointment of Angel Rubi Navarijo, the 48th Ward's constituent services and public safety director, to the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability after the appointment stalled for months over conflict-of-interest concerns before passing the Committee on Police and Fire Tuesday. Alderpeople approved his appointment in a divided 31-14 vote. Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48) recused herself.