When the city announced the first awardees of a new grant program aimed at spurring economic activity in depressed commercial corridors, neighborhoods with some of the highest unemployment and poverty rates in the city–West Englewood, Fuller Park, and Oakland, among others–were noticeably absent. While more than 700 applied to get a piece of the pie, 25 businesses located in wards represented by some of the mayor’s allies fared noticeably well.

Chicago aldermen, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office, and state lawmakers are putting pressure on Governor Bruce Rauner to address an increase in reported hate crimes by urging him to sign legislation that’d strengthen the state’s hate crimes law and to fill vacancies on an existing state commission tasked with enforcement. The parties gathered at City Hall on Monday to discuss a resolution Ald. Pat Dowell (3), Chair of the Council’s Human Relations Committee, directly introduced to her committee urging action.

The Council’s Committee on Human Relations meets Monday to demand that Governor Bruce Rauner address “alarming rates” of hate crimes reported in Chicago. 

A five hour meeting of the Plan Commission Thursday included a 30-day deferral of a nearly 300-unit residential development near O’Hare, though the local alderman wanted it held “indefinitely”; opposition from West Town residents who don’t want the city to sell land for affordable housing; a presentation from the University of Chicago on a new 97,000 sq. ft. lecture hall; and approval of a zoning change to allow a Lucky Strike, movie theater and health club at the two-acre Clark and Addison development near Wrigley Field.

Two twin residential tower developments for the West Loop and Near West Side, three TODs and an amended planned development for a commercial development near Wrigley Field commonly referred to as “Addison and Clark” are on Thursday’s Plan Commission agenda.

In total, there are twelve applications slated for review, making it one of the longest agendas of the year.  

Three applicants are taking advantage of the density bonus buy-in and three applications qualify as Transit Oriented Developments (TODs). One of the TODs is in Wicker Park near the Blue Line, another is in Washington Park along the Green Line, and the third by O’Hare, also along the Blue Line.

Logan Square 101-Unit TOD

2835 W. Belden Ave. (1st Ward, O2015-6396)  

This proposed six-story residential building has 100 efficiency units and 30 accessory parking spaces. Plans call for the demolition of the existing vacant industrial building and single family home.

The project qualifies as a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) due to its proximity to the California Avenue stop on the CTA’s Blue Line. Barry Sidel filed the application in May 2015 requesting a rezone from a C1-2 district to a B2-3 underlying planned development. The project triggers the city’s ARO. 10 affordable units for those earning 100% of the Chicago Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area Median Income are planned.

Roseland Charter School Relocation

10909 S. Cottage Grove Ave. (9th Ward, O2017-3854)

The Chicago Collegiate Charter School in Roseland wants to temporarily locate its school at the Salem Baptist Church (the subject property). The school, which serves 4th through 12th grade, is seeking a rezone of the church property, from heavy industry manufacturing (M3-3) to commercial (C3-1), in order to legally occupy a portion of the 67,600 sq. ft. church.

Plan Commission approval is needed because the church is located in an industrial corridor. Pending approval by the Plan Commission and City Council, the school will apply for a special use permit.

58-Unit Mostly Affordable Housing Washington Park

63-77 E. Garfield Blvd (20th Ward, O2017-155)

This application is to build a mixed-use affordable housing development on partially city-owned land near Washington Park. The plan for a four-story, 58-unit building with 7,000 sq. ft. of commercial retail was was filed by a slew of LLCs managed by Northbrook-based law firm Friedland, Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen, which has overseen several large-scale development projects in Chicago.  

The development team plans to leverage federal low-income housing tax credits, as well as $6.35 million in TIF. 49 units will be reserved for those who earn up to 60% of Area Median Income. It qualifies as a TOD as it’s near the Garfield stop on the city’s Green Line.  

The applicant, Brin Life Center, LLC, received preliminary approval from the city’s Community Development Commission to use TIF funds and enter into a negotiated sale with the city to purchase two city-owned vacant parcels for $2 (63- 77 E. Garfield and 5500-5516 S. Michigan). It’s a large plot of vacant land surrounded by churches and a few blocks west of Washington Park.

Rev. Torrey L. Barrett, a member of the city’s Police Board and founder and Executive Director of K.L.E.O. Community Family Life Center Chicago, is part of the venture. He’s listed as one of the managers of Imagine Group Washington Park, LLC, one of the shareholding entities.  

The plan development application requests a rezone from a neighborhood shopping district (B1-2) and residential (RM5) to a uniform underlying zoning of B2-3.

“Union West” Twin 15-Story M/U

933-43 W. Washington (25th Ward, O2017-2162)

A pair of 15-story mixed-use buildings with a combined 356 residential units and 13,700 sq. ft. of ground floor retail was filed by Haymarket Apartments Joint Venture, LP in March.

It requests a rezone of the site bounded by West Washington, North Morgan, West Madison, and North Sangamon Streets from a downtown mixed-use district (DX-3) to a DX-5. The development team is taking advantage of the density bonus system for an addition FAR of 1.5, though the payment amount isn’t listed in the application.

The property, a surface parking lot, is owned by McDermott Center, doing business as the Haymarket Center, an addiction treatment center  located across the street from the proposed development.

The applicant is Orlando, Florida based ZRS Management, an apartment & multifamily property management firm that also developed the Chestnut Tower on the city’s Near North Side. Architect bKL designed 184-foot towers (Renderings)

The project triggers the city’s 2015 affordable housing requirements for developments in higher-income areas. This means 10% of total units planned (36 units) are called for. Nine of those units (25% of 36) are required on-site, the remaining can be located elsewhere or require an in-lieu payment of $125,00 per unit.

Twin 17-Story, 586-M/U Towers for West Loop

833-55 West Madison (27th Ward, O2016-7306)

Another pair of residential towers on the agenda are proposed by the John Buck Company. The 17-story mixed-use buildings will have a total of 586 residential units and nearly 300 parking spaces. The application requests a rezone from downtown mixed-use (DX-5) to downtown service (DS-3) and a floor area bonus.

Adjacent 297-Unit Residential Tower for O’Hare Marriott

8535 W. Higgins Road (41st Ward, O2015-6354)

Host Hotels & Resorts, LP (doing business as the Chicago Marriott O’Hare) wants to amend their existing planned development application in order to construct a seven-story residential building, a parking structure, and possibly an office building. The application would divide Sub-area B into three separate parcels, one for each item planned.

A letter on file from Ald. Anthony Napolitano (41) says the project includes two office buildings (250,000 square feet each), 40,000 square feet of retail sales, eating and drinking and 230,000 square feet of residential.

A $2 million payment to the city’s affordable housing fund will cover the required affordable units. The project is a TOD, located a block away from the Cumberland stop on the CTA’s Blue Line.

The Council’s Committee on Economic, Capital and Technology Development meets Thursday afternoon to consider a new Commissioner for the Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT). Though Mayor Rahm Emanuel formally introduced the ordinance appointing Danielle DuMerer to the job last month, DuMere has served as the interim commissioner since April 1.

City Council’s Housing Committee approved funding Tuesday for a first responder homebuyer assistance program and cut the price tag of a previously approved land sale for a Little Village property once valued at $4.7 million and sold for $1 million. The amended price is $1.

The Council’s Human Relations Committee advanced an ordinance Monday that would prohibit Chicago from taking part in any attempt by the Trump Administration to create a national database of any kind. The ordinance from Mayor Rahm Emanuel prohibits participation in a federal registry program based on race, color, religion, natural origin, ancestry, criminal record and any other identifying factors.

A new $3 million homebuyer assistance program for Chicago police officers, firefighters and other first responders is among several routine items on tap for the Council’s Housing Committee Tuesday.

Updated: June 15, 2017

Since May 2015, the start of the current term of the City Council, aldermen have supported more than $92 million in property tax breaks for 60 development projects that qualify under Cook County’s property tax incentive program. Armed with six different property tax break programs, the City of Chicago has attempted to cajole and encourage commercial and manufacturing businesses to stay or relocate within the city boundaries, gathering promises to create around 7,100 new jobs and keep nearly 3,600 jobs from moving out of Chicago in return for a reduced tax bill. In a little over two years, the program has invested about $8,700 per promised job.

To better outline the prevalence of these tax breaks, The Daily Line assembled two years of data gathered through press releases and city ordinances. Most of it is boilerplate and provides limited, glossy detail. The finer points are provided in committee meetings through powerpoint presentations, or during the rare question and answer period between aldermen and DPD staff.  But those project briefs are not publicly accessible.

While the incentives pass through the City Council, the program is managed by Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios. All applications are filed with the Assessor and reviewed by the local municipality. And yet, the Assessor’s Office only provides its data through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests sent by mail.

Soon, due to a rule change some of the most common tax breaks located in certain industrial corridors, Class 6b, will bypass the City Council. DPD will handle the local review and submit the recommendation to the County. That means some of the data The Daily Line relied on to compile this report–legislation records and corresponding mayoral press announcements–will be held by city administrators and likely only provided by FOIA request, as with most city information.

If Chicago wants to address high unemployment rates among African-American men and youth, the private sector, sister agencies, and the county need to pitch in; that’s the takeaway aldermen were left with following a nearly three hour subject matter hearing Wednesday hosted by the Council’s Workforce Committee on addressing this longstanding problem, borne out of decades of disinvestment in predominantly Black communities.

For the third time this year, the Council’s Workforce Committee is scheduled to hold a subject matter hearing Wednesday on concerningly high unemployment rates among African American men and youth. No proposed code changes or funding plans for how the City Council could address this issue prompted today’s or the other two meetings held on this subject last month, just resolutions.

 



A Chicago Police Department official who heads CPD’s Community Relations Division told the Council’s Public Safety Committee that she was “not qualified to answer” an inquiry from an alderman on the status of the community oversight function planned as part of the city’s overall police reform efforts.

A federal grant program that helps cities combat violent gangs and curb illegal guns will be the subject of Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting.

In 2016, fifteen aldermen on the City Council received income from an outside job, two aldermen had a family member contracted by the city, and one alderman owned eleven pieces of property. That information was revealed this week as aldermen rushed to file their annual financial interest statements with the city. All were required to submit the responses to the Board of Ethics by May 31.

With more than two-thirds of the city’s collective bargaining agreements scheduled to expire at the end of June, the city’s Inspector General has identified costly provisions the city should eliminate or amend at the negotiation table.

As another Springfield state legislative session closes with the real possibility that Chicago Public Schools may not receive the funding it budgeted for, CEO Forrest Claypool used a sold out City Club luncheon speech Tuesday to double down on his claim that the state is purposefully discriminating against the school district.  

For the second year in a row, Chicago Public Schools has found itself in the direst of financial positions. Having built a budget on expectations of state funding and then spending a year blaming Springfield, CPS is once again faced with with the challenge of finding enough cash to make its annual pension payment and while keeping schools open. When the clock ran out last year and the pension bill came due on June 30th, CPS was forced to borrow $200 million from banks. Last Friday, they announced plans to do it again.

While it’s troubling that the school district is repeating the same budgetary mistakes of last year, the district’s finances suffer from an almost total lack of transparency, as you’ll hear from several aldermen throughout the episode. It opens with an exchange between Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) and Budget Director Alex Holt from October 2015.

A months-long plot to force a vote on an ordinance that would increase oversight of the Chicago Housing Authority and set specific, annual benchmarks for required public housing units and vouchers fizzled ahead of Wednesday’s full City Council meeting. While the details of why it waned are murky–did the sponsors fumble on purpose or was it poor planning–the timing is not in doubt.

The slate of ordinances and measures awaiting a vote by the full City Council Wednesday is fairly bland–save for a zoning change for Jefferson Park that’s already been the subject of three meetings and two lawsuits.