The Council’s Zoning Committee has an extra short meeting planned Wednesday–there are no map amendments, just an appointment to the Public Building Commission, a clean-up ordinance from Ald. Brian Hopkins (2), and routine signboard applications and fee waivers.

The Council’s Education Committee was forced to recess its meeting Tuesday to dodge a quorum call by one member who expressed frustration with the committee’s lack of action in addressing Chicago Public Schools’ funding crisis.

Citing a last minute removal of a resolution from the agenda requesting CPS CEO Forrest Claypool and CPS budget officials testify before the committee on the state of its finances, Ald. Rick Muñoz (22) threatened a quorum call. Only 8 of the 20 members were present. He told reporters after the meeting that he wants Claypool to clear up inconsistencies with the district’s funding gap, “So that the City Council, if needed, can try and assess how to solve the problem.”

Laura Kunard, Public Safety Deputy IG nominee, speaks with Ald. James Cappleman (46) following her City Council confirmation hearing on Monday, April 11, 2017.

At her confirmation hearing Monday, Chicago’s soon-to-be Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety Dr. Laura Kunard told aldermen the city’s system for police oversight is “largely ineffective and confusing” and lacks “legitimacy” in the eyes of residents.

“I have deep respect for the profession of policing and its critical function and the role that it plays in our society. But I believe strongly that we must make change happen here in Chicago,” Kunard said in her opening remarks before a joint meeting of the Council’s Budget and Public Safety committees, which prompted a critical comment by one committee chair and skepticism from others that Kunard would be an impartial auditor of the city’s police department.

The Council’s Education Committee meets Tuesday morning to consider one new appointment and two reappointments to the Board of Trustees for the City Colleges. A resolution sponsored by Ald. Gregory Michell (7) that calls for a subject matter hearing on Chicago Public Schools’ student-based budgeting formula will be held.

A joint meeting of Budget and Public Safety Committees convenes Monday morning to consider the appointment of a new Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety. The position, created by Council last October, will perform regular audits of the Chicago Police Department and its oversight agencies. The $137,052-a-year position was created last fall as part of a larger police reform ordinance to replace the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA) with a new Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA).

The Council’s Housing Committee approved all items on their agenda Wednesday morning, including two lease agreements on behalf of the Chicago Police Department and land sales in the city’s Grand Boulevard, South Shore, and Woodlawn neighborhoods.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel isn’t the only elected official in Chicago to work around a rule in the city’s ethics ordinance that bars elected officials from soliciting more than $1,500 from people or entities that do business with the city. Ald. Sophia King’s (4) reported fundraising activity for February indicates at least five separate donations from LLCs tied to one Chicago development firm that obtained zoning approval from the city in the last year.

While the mayor might’ve benefitted the most from the workaround, The Daily Line’s regular review of monthly campaign contributions for city and county elected officials shows several similar cases of this practice: multiple attorneys from the same firm who do regular business before the city will donate to a campaign in a single month, developers with pending zoning projects will donate to the same alderman under different LLCs registered under the same address, or spouses will each donate the maximum amount allowed by an individual, doubling the candidate’s take.

A group of land sales and a lease extension for the police department to rent out training space for new recruits at Kennedy-King College are up for consideration from City Council’s Housing Committee Wednesday.

A Chicago-sponsored ID program for the city’s undocumented, and possibly underage homeless as well as formerly incarcerated residents is one step closer to reality with an official ordinance introduced at Wednesday’s full City Council meeting. Two downtown aldermen ditched their preliminary noise ban on downtown street performers with a new measure “aimed at striking a fair compromise.” And after winning her runoff election, Ald. Sophia King (4) was officially sworn in to finish out the remainder of Will Burns’ term.

A plan to quiet street performers along portions of Michigan Avenue and State Street is back up for consideration today after the measure was blocked last month.

But as of this publication,it’s unclear whether aldermen will vote on the original ordinance drafted by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42) and Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) or a substitute. Ald. Reilly told reporters Tuesday that he’s still working on a substitute with the administration, street performers who’d be impacted by the noise limits, and other community stakeholders. Ald. Reilly declined to detail those possible changes, saying the language wasn’t finished.

At the February City Council meeting, two aldermen used a parliamentary procedure to block action on the item. Any item that is deferred and published by two aldermen is held until the next council meeting and re-writes are not subject to reconsideration by committee.

Highlights of Items Up For Vote

• An amendment clarifying boundaries and meters around Wrigley Field where surge pricing (doubling the hourly rate to $4 during games and events) would take effect starting April 10th. More than 1,100 meters would be impacted for a projected annual revenue increase of $2.4M (O2017-912) / (Our Coverage)


• Class 6(b) property tax incentives for Summit Industries, Inc. in the 33rd Ward; Quality Armature, Inc. in the 37th Ward; and for Mays Chemical Company in the 9th Ward  (full list)/ (Our Coverage)


• A proposal from Ald. Tom Tunney (44) and Ald. Rob Sawyer (6) to lower the legal age eligibility to serve and sell alcohol in Chicago from 21-years-old to 18-years-old. This would cover restaurants, supermarkets and any other business that sells liquor. (SO2017-231)  


• A resolution reaffirming Chicago as a Sanctuary City, supporting the DACA and DAPA program and denouncing the practice of deporting military veterans and Gold Star Families


• Expenditure of Open Space Impact Fee Funds for:  Kil-Parker Community Garden (31st Ward), 42nd Sheet Garden projects (3rd Ward), Brown Memorial Park (6th Ward),  Christiana Park 24th Ward), and for the construction of 6049 S. Whipple St. Park (16th Ward)


• Appointment of Anthony Simpkins  to the Chicago Low income Housing Trust Fund Board


• Limitations on rooftop features in Residential (“R”) Zoning Districts (TAD-555) and a requirement that any new small venue entertainment or sports facility that wants to locate in the Elston Corridor (Planned Manufacturing District No. 2-A) (O2016-8421)

Major land sale, zoning and planned development items:

CPS/CITY

• A new $44M Dore Elementary School in the  Clearing neighborhood near Midway Airport.(O2016-8493)


• A $1.6 million horse riding facility and barn for the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences in Mount Greenwood


• A new $22 million annex for Zapata Elementary School in Little Village.


• A land acquisition that’d facilitate a new tech and employment incubator at the former Bouchet Annex in the 8th Ward (O2017-918)


• New northwest side satellite hearing facility  and payment office for the Departments of Finance and Administrative Hearings. The ordinance allows them to rent out about 7,000 square feet at the Albany Square stripmall. (O2017-954)

PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT (Highlights)

• Goettsch Partners' Riverfront 52-Story Office Tower for 110 N. Wacker, a roughly $600M endeavor to replace old General Growth Building. A new public pocket park and riverfront walkway are planned, as the glass building abuts the Chicago River.  (O2017-156) / (Renderings  / Exhibit)


• Lagunitas’ proposed expansion for their existing facilities in Douglas Park. (O2016-7308)


• A 99-unit, 8-Story Wicker Park Hotel that’ll replace a Shell gas station at the corner of Ashland and North Avenues (O2016-643)


• Praedium Development’s A proposed 197-unit TOD (transit oriented development) at the corner of Broadway and Wilson, a few steps away from the Wilson Red Line stop. (O2016-5600)


• A new senior residence building for Englewood (16th Ward) – The approximately $28 million affordable senior housing project, called the “Montclare Senior Residences of Englewood” includes 102 units. MR Properties will be taking advantage of Low Income Housing Tax Credits (O2016-2622)


• Mega Realty’s planned four-story, 39-unit mixed-use building with ground floor retail near the Jefferson Park Transit Station (O2016-1622)

The Salvation Army would build and oversee a centralized intake center for homeless families in Chicago under a delegate agreement advanced by the Council’s Budget Committee Tuesday.

A proposal to build a five-story story storage facility near the Jefferson Park Transit Station was temporarily held in Zoning Committee Monday after a quorum call made nearly seven hours into the meeting found the committee lacking sufficient numbers for a vote.

Though it is rare for the 18-member Zoning Committee to have nine or more members present at regular meetings, Ald. Ed Burke (14) used the issue to block a development Monday that has been subject to pushback from a vocal segment of the neighborhood. The committee received 120 letters in opposition and several witnesses referred to an online petition that has garnered more than 4,000 signatures.   

The City Council’s Zoning Committee meets at 10:00 a.m. today to approve all items that went through the Plan Commission earlier this month ahead of the full Council meeting Wednesday. The agenda includes a controversial five-story storage facility for Jefferson Park, which garnered more than two hours of public testimony in the Plan Commission hearing.

Starting April 10th at 5:00 p.m., surge parking rates will take effect around Wrigley Field. And depending on its success, the program could be replicated around the city, increasing rates at meters located near any major Chicago event that prompts a significant amount of foot and vehicular congestion. An amendment clarifying the boundaries of the surge pricing plan was advanced out of the Council’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Thursday and is scheduled for a vote by the full Council next Wednesday.

Under the pilot program, which was first announced and approved by the Council during the budget process last fall, hourly rates at parking meters around Wrigley Field would double from $2 to $4 an hour. Though, when the pilot was first revealed, the city’s Budget Office had projected surge pricing at 820 meters around Wrigley Field and 670 parking meters around Soldier Field would generate $2.4 million. Eventually, at the behest of the local Ald. Pat Dowell (3), the administration agreed to delay implementation at Soldier Field.

Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown told aldermen Thursday the annual revenue projections have been reduced, from $2.4 million to $1.5 million, while the number of affected meters around Wrigley increased to 1,148. The pilot zone includes Irving Park Road to the North, Southport on the West, Belmont on the South and Broadway to the East.

In addition to mostly routine liquor license items, the Council’s License Committee approved an ordinance from Ald. Tom Tunney (44) and Ald. Rod Sawyer (6) that would allow those under 21 to serve liquor at restaurants. Sponsors have framed lowering the age threshold to 18 years as a way to address youth unemployment in Chicago, which is especially high among minorities.

The Committee on Special Events approved financing for a new park and the expansion of several community gardens, playlots.

With the threat of a strike looming, the Council’s Workforce Committee will consider a resolution calling for Gov. Bruce Rauner to “renew good faith negotiation” with state employees represented by AFSCME Council 31. The resolution introduced by Ald. Howard Brookins (21) has 45 co-sponsors.

A plan to turn a vacant CPS annex on the South Side into a tech incubator and a new satellite office on the northwest side for the city’s Department of Finance are up for consideration by the Housing Committee, as is the appointment of Anthony Simpkins to the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund Board. Simpkins is currently serving as the Managing Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development’s Housing Division. He’s already been before the committee several times in the past year, briefing aldermen on the department’s quarterly housing reports.

Using development data from the Chicago Department of Planning and Development, we created a map of major developments in Chicago over a 19-month period. There are a number of things that stand out:

A preview of our map of Chicago Development.

Spurred by our upcoming discussion with Department of Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman and a desire to look at the big picture of Chicago development, we’ve created a 19-month overview of major developments across Chicago in an interactive map.

Some 40 Jefferson Park residents outraged by a proposed 5-story self-storage facility that’ll eventually be paired with a 100-unit mixed affordable and public housing building packed the City Council Chambers for Thursday’s Plan Commission meeting to blast the project and scorn the local alderman.

It was the first marathon-long showing of public resentment for a zoning project before the mayor-appointed zoning board in months–the last being the JDL’s Cuneo Hospital luxury high-rise development in Uptown and the city’s massive revamp of the historic Lathrop Homes public housing complex.