Members of the Chicago City Council may have breathed a sigh of relief after approving a 2020 budget that closed an $838 million budget deficit without imposing a massive property tax hike.

County leaders will launch a working group next year to find an answer to the question that roiled city and state government this week: did the state’s cannabis legalization law go far enough to help the people who have been harmed by the War on Drugs?

Two advisory councils will help shape the construction of two megadevelopments planned to transform the South Loop and the North Branch of the Chicago River, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Thursday. 

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi will relax requirements for next year’s property tax appeals process after his staffers rebuffed an overwhelming majority of the thousands of property owners who claimed the rookie assessor had over-valued their buildings.

Kaegi hit homeowners and landlords in Cook County’s 13 north-suburban townships with a double-punch this year when his valuations team hiked their assessments — sometimes more than doubling them — and then rejected most of their pleas for reductions. Kaegi’s office delivered its last round of appeals decisions on Dec. 7.

A plan to turn the vacant Von Humboldt Elementary School into an 107-unit apartment complex including five townhomes geared toward educators won the endorsement of a key city panel Thursday after the developer promised to set aside half of the units for low- and moderate-income residents.

Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) asked the Plan Commission to endorse the three-year-old proposal from Newark, N.J.-based developer RBH Group that would transform the shuttered Logan Square elementary school, which has been vacant since it was one of 49 schools closed in 2013 as part of the largest mass school closure in the country’s modern history.

If approved by the City Council’s Zoning Committee and the full City Council, the $21 million project would mark the second time one of the closed schools would be transformed into apartments. In Uptown, the former Stewart Elementary School is now the Stewart School Lofts, where rent starts at $1,700 per month for studios and nearly $4,000 for three-bedroom units, according to online listings.

La Spata said he pressed the developer to ensure that the former school could be turned into homes for those being priced out of Logan Square so they can stay in the community, and to ensure that the apartments would be affordable for the long term.

“We can create diverse, affordable communities that thrive,” La Spata told the commission.

Under the city’s Affordable Housing Requirements ordinance, a minimum of 15 percent of the units — or 16 units — would have to be set aside for Chicagoans earning 60 percent of the area’s median income, which is approximately $54,000 for a family of four.

Housing Department Comm. Marisa Novara praised the developer for agreeing to go beyond the minimum requirements. 

Two of the 52 affordable units would be earmarked for those earning 30 percent of the area’s median income and 23 units would be set aside for those earning 50 percent of the area’s median income. The remaining 27 units are set to be rented to those earning the area’s median income, but Novara said she had a commitment from the developer to make 25 of those units more affordable using resources from the Chicago Housing Authority and the city’s Low Income Housing Trust Fund.

RBH Group's Ron Beit said the firm worked hard to win the approval of city officials.

"We are excited to bring the former Von Humboldt school back to life with teachers,” Beit wrote in a statement. “We will create affordable, workforce, and market-rate housing marketed to educators in the community, as well as a fresh food market, community space, and a life-long learning center.”

The plan also calls for 53 parking spaces and “classroom, community, commercial and office uses,” according to documents submitted to the Chicago Planning Department.

The City Council’s Zoning Committee could consider the project at its next meeting, set for Jan. 14.

The Plan Commission also gave the green light to plans (O2017-7021) for a 43-story tower with up to 300 units, first-floor retail and 75 parking spaces at 906 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop. Sixty units will be set aside for low- and moderate-income residents as part of the $215 million development, as required by the Affordable requirements Ordinance.

In addition, developer Related Midwest will pay $4.87 million into the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund for permission to build a project that is more dense and taller than the city’s rules allow.

Other projects advanced Thursday by the Plan Commission include:

• LF#737 — A proposal by Francis Campise and James Jann to build a four-story, 36-unit building at 3728 N. Lake Shore Drive with 36 parking spaces in the 46th Ward.


• O2019-4107 — A proposal by Michael Haney of Newcastle Limited to build a 12-story, 91-unit development at 1200 N. State Parkway with 33 parking spaces and first-floor retail. The $72 million project did not require a zoning change, so none of the units are required to be affordable, officials said.


• LF#738 — A proposal by the Chicago Park District to build a new “water landing” to “provide access to Lake Michigan for non-motorized water craft” at 8500 South Green Bay Avenue in Steelworkers Park the 10th Ward.


• O2019-6832 — A proposal to build a two-story food packaging and cold storage facility for Cougle, a 146-year-old poultry processor at 2801 S. Ashland Ave. in the 25th Ward. Cougle is moving from the Fulton Market District.


• O2019-308  — A proposal by John Novak to allow for construction of an accessory parking lot at Elston Logan Plaza, 2700-18 N. Elston Ave., in the 32nd Ward.


• O2019-2661 — A proposal by John Pellouchoud to build four buildings comprising 28 townhomes at 1225-35 W. School St. in the 44th Ward. The developer will pay $600,000 into the Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund rather than build on-site affordable units.


• O2019-1406 — A proposal by Related Midwest to lay the groundwork for a new CTA Red Line station at 101-213 W. Roosevelt Road in the 25th Ward. The station was proposed as part of Related’s $7 billion The 78 megadevelopment.

Cook County officials want to referee the dust-up that blew open on Wednesday between city and state leaders over the coming legalization of cannabis in Illinois.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her allies on the City Council rebuffed an effort to prohibit the sale of pot in Chicago until July 1, withstanding an impassioned effort by several African American aldermen to impose a six-month delay to ensure that firms owned by people who were hurt by drug laws can profit from the sale of cannabis.

A proposal to turn the vacant Von Humboldt Elementary School into an 107-unit apartment complex and five townhomes geared toward teachers now has the tentative support of Ald. Daniel La Spata (1) and is set to be considered by the Chicago Plan Commission Thursday.

Police in the Cook County Forest Preserves will be equipped with tasers and body cameras under a measure (19-0491) approved by the preserves’ Board of Commissioners on Tuesday.

The board — whose members are the same as the Cook County Board of Commissioners — voted 13-2 to approve a five-year, $1.28 million contract with Axon Enterprises, the same company that provides the Chicago Police Department with its body cameras.

A measure that would prohibit the sale of pot in Chicago until July 1 in order to ensure that firms owned by people who were hurt by drug laws can profit from the sale of cannabis advanced Tuesday on a 10-9 vote, setting up a final vote on Wednesday that pits the City Council’s Black Caucus against Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

 

The final full City Council meeting of 2019 promises to showcase a truly rare occurrence: a knock-down, drag-out floor fight with no clear projected winner.

Ten aldermen defied Mayor Lori Lightfoot Tuesday and sent a measure that would prohibit the sale of pot in Chicago until July 1 in order to ensure that firms owned by people who were hurt by drug laws can profit from the sale of cannabis.

That vote sets up a rare showdown between Chicago’s mayor and Chicago’s aldermen, who have more often served as a rubber stamp than an independent legislative body with its own set of priorities.

Related: Aldermen advance six-month ban on weed sales because lack of Black dispensary owners

If the measure passes over the mayor’s objections, that could trigger the first mayoral veto since 2006 — and perhaps triggered a full-scale rebellion by those already angered by the mayor’s decision to create a website — chicagobudgetvotes.com — to blast aldermen who voted against her 2020 spending plan.

At the same time, aldermen are braced for Lightfoot to renew her effort after the holidays to roll back aldermanic prerogative by attempting to rewrite the city’s zoning code — and perhaps looking for an opportunity to remind the mayor that a majority of the City Council makes laws for the city.

Related: At 6-month mark, Lightfoot’s effort to scale back aldermanic prerogative a work in progress

Ervin’s measure is not the only marijuana-related proposal on the agenda for the City Council meeting set to start at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Aldermen will also weigh (O2019-8484) which would allow cannabis company Cresco Labs to relocate its MedMar dispensary from a 900-square-foot office at 3812 N. Clark St. to the 5,000-square-foot former home of the bar John Barleycorn at 3524 N. Clark St.

Related: ‘Give the brothers a piece:’ Aldermen narrowly OK dispensary amid criticism over lack of Black owners

That proposal advanced on a 7-5 vote Dec. 10 after an hour-long debate also centered on whether proposals from firms owned by Black and Latino entrepreneurs should be allowed to advance.

On firmer ground is another attempt by Lightfoot to push through another ethics reform measure designed to fulfill her central campaign promise to clean up city government and root out corruption. 

Aldermen are set to advance a measure that would ban them from working as lobbyists to press other elected officials on city-related matters.

The measure (O2019-8541), which has 31 co-sponsors, is set for a final vote despite several aldermen saying they were concerned it would open the city up to litigation. They also said it was unnecessary, even amid the federal investigations swirling around City Hall and the State Capitol.

The ban was prompted by the arrest of former State Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago) in October on charges that he allegedly offered to bribe a state senator by paying him $2,500 a month in exchange for the senator’s support on legislation that would benefit a client he was working for at the city level. But that state senator was wearing a wire for the FBI.

Related: ‘The feds are all around us:’ Ban on aldermen working as lobbyists advances despite concerns

In addition, the proposed city ordinance bans elected officials who represent other jurisdictions from lobbying city officials or city agencies. 

The ordinance carves out an exemption for elected officials who are also lawyers representing clients who have asked Chicago officials or agencies for an official action and are required to register as a lobbyist under state or local laws.

Aldermen on Wednesday are set give final approval to a number of items:

• O2019-9121 — A measure authored by Ald. Matt O’Shea (19) that would allow aldermen to use their aldermanic office budgets to host document shredding and electronic recycling events.


• O2019-9252 — A measure authored by Ald. Raymond Lopez (15) that would allow aldermen to use their expense accounts — which will grow by $25,000 in 2020 — to publish “an annual calendar regarding citywide and ward specific information, events and holidays.”


• Twenty-three budgets for Special Service Areas across the city, including the approximately $300,000 budget for the Six Corners Special Service Area (O2019-7765), which was the source of controversy after Ald. Jim Gardiner (45) said he would vote against the budget unless the organization’s bylaws were changed.


• Eighteen appointments to the boards of Special Service Areas across the city.


• O2019-8545; O2019-8548; O2019-8556 — Three property tax breaks for commercial developments in the 14th, 21st and 11th wards.


• O2019-9126 — A measure authored by Ald. Tom Tunney (44) that will allow the plaza outside Wrigley Field to operate through March 29 as negotiations over a long-term agreement continue.


• O2019-9127; O2019-9128 — Two measures to ban home-sharing services in the 26th and 15th precincts of the 13th Ward.


• O2019-8528 — A measure authored by Ald. Silvana Tabares (23 )to ban home-sharing services in the 35th precinct of the 23rd Ward.


• Seven measures regarding the sale of packaged liquor.


• O2019-6853 — A proposal by the Chicago Housing Authority to build an 80-unit addition to the Chicago Housing Authority’s Edith Spurlock Apartments at 2604-2742 N. Sheffield Ave. in the 43rd Ward.


• O2019-8478 — A proposal by Marquis Capital to build a four-story mixed-use building with six residential units and ground-floor commercial space at 1057-59 W. Taylor St. in the 25th Ward.


• O2019-7963 — A proposal by Joseph Perillo to build a 131-stall parking garage at 6301 N. Western Ave. in the 50th Ward.


• O2019-4103 — A proposal by Thomas McCauley to build a six-story mixed-use building with 35 residential units and ground-floor commercial space at 3347 N. Southport Ave. in the 44th Ward.


• O2019-8476 — A proposal by Culver’s franchisee Justin Obreicht to build an 18-unit mixed-use building at 3500-02 N. Clark St. in the 44th Ward.


• O2019-7967 —  Permission to allow the Ivy Hotel to install a retractable structure to enclose its existing rooftop terrace. The expansion triggers the city’s density bonus program, requiring a $101,500 payment into the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund.


• O2019-9258; O2019-9255; O2019-9256; O2019-9257 — Four measures that would terminate four tax-increment financing districts early.


• Or2019-513 — A payment of  $1.3 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of 18-year-old Tevin Jones-Rogers, who was killed in a crash during a 2017 police pursuit.


• Or2019-512 — A payment of $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of 24-year-old Heriberto Godinez, who died in police custody in July 2015. 


• Or2019-511 — A payment of $850,000 to settle a lawsuit that alleges Shaquille Gillespie was charged with a crime to cover up the fact that police officers used excessive force while arresting him in a West Side alley in March 2013.


• Or2019-514 — A payment of $175,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by Gertrude Matanky, who was crossing La Salle Drive at Lake Street in a crosswalk outside City Hall when she was struck by a car driven by Chicago Police Officer Phillip Flannagan while he was on duty.


• O2019-8005 — A measure to extend the Music Box Foundation’s $1 lease of a former South Shore fire station at 6843 S. Harper Ave. to allow its community center to remain open until 2026.


• O2019-8017 — A measure to spend $100,000 from the Central Park Tax Increment Financing District to purchase property to expand a park at 724-726 N. Kedzie Ave. in the 27th Ward


• Eleven sales of city property.

Even before Chicago property tax owners start paying the $18 million property tax hike included in the city’s 2020 budget, nine Chicago Public Library branches will open on Sunday afternoons, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Monday.

A commission charged with doling out millions of public dollars to boost Cook County’s response to the 2020 U.S. census called off its Monday meeting, marking the group’s third cancellation in the span of a single month.

Ald. Jason Ervin (28) will get another chance to advance a proposal that would prohibit the sale of pot in Chicago until July 1 in order to ensure that firms owned by people who were hurt by drug laws can profit from the sale of cannabis. Meanwhile, elections officials are working to update their rolls as the primary approaches.

A burgeoning Cook County agency dedicated to transforming neglected properties into new homes is set to accelerate its operations next year, even as it faces an impending probe of its buyers and persistent criticism from county Treasurer Maria Pappas.