Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), the council's new zoning chair, is pictured at a City Council meeting on April 15, 2026. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

A Northwest Side alderman will convene the first City Council zoning committee meeting in a matter of months next week after his surprise ascension to the chairmanship of the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards broke a monthslong impasse.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), who was selected as chair of the zoning committee at the council’s regular April meeting, was voted into the position by a majority of the council in an unusual move — in that the mayor typically shepherds a pick through the body.  

Related: Villegas named zoning chair, Curtis to chair economic, capital and tech development in last-minute committee leadership shakeup  

Not in this case. Villegas and much of the Aldermanic Black Caucus came to an agreement by which Ald. Derrick Curtis (18) would inherit Villegas’ old position as chair of the economic, capital and technology development committee, thereby allowing the Black Caucus to elevate one member to a leadership role while ceding the zoning leadership role to a member of the Latino Caucus.  

The new zoning chair said the atypical process by which he was appointed is a “win” for taxpayers because it represents a growing ability for the council to serve as a check on the executive branch. 

While typically occupied by a mayoral ally, Villegas, often an opponent of the mayor on many issues, now controls one of the most powerful committees in the legislative branch. Mayor Brandon Johnson has said he’ll be able to work with Villegas if they can find areas where their development philosophies overlap.  

“I'm going to work with anyone who's committed to helping us build the safest, most affordable place in America, whether you call yourself a progressive or whether you call yourself something else,” Johnson said at a post-council meeting press conference last month.  

Villegas said he has already met with the mayor in the two weeks since his appointment as chair and definitely sees areas where they align, such as the mayor’s Cut the Tape agenda, which is pushing for legislative and administrative changes that speed up development.  

“I think that that's going to be one of the most important things that I work on during my tenure here — is to figure out how to cut the red tape and overlay technology into this whole process,” the new chair said. “That way we can allow for predictability for those folks that want to invest in the city of Chicago and create jobs and much-needed tax revenue. We have to grow ourselves out of this deficit that we have.”  

Villegas said it was premature to identify issues where he and the mayor are likely to be at odds. But he did say that Johnson brought up the Hazel Johnson Cumulative Impacts Ordinance, which has sat in the zoning committee for a year. Villegas said his advice to the mayor was to pull it from committee for a direct vote at a future council meeting under Rule 41 if he believes he has the support to pass it. 

The mayor’s office confirmed the meeting took place last week. 

The 36th Ward alderman will hold the first of two May zoning meetings next week as part of an effort to get through scores of stalled items that have been pending before the committee for months. Late last year, Ald. Bennett Lawson (44), the vice chair and then-acting chair of the committee, vowed to halt regular zoning meetings until a permanent chair was named after serving months in the acting role.  

Just one zoning meeting has been held this year, back in February.  

The May 6 meeting is all the new chair believes he will need to make it through the backlog. 

“I've told my colleagues that on May 6, that they should be prepared to stay as long as five-and-a-half hours for that meeting,” Villegas said.  

The second meeting this month on May 19 will cover items introduced in April, he said. 

One of the main ways Villegas hopes to make his tenure as zoning chair stand out is through the integration of technology to modernize planning and zoning functions. He said he has directed staff to digitize records to save money and space spent on storage and to better organize information. He also wants to make it easy to track project progress by giving projects their own virtual dashboards and increase interdepartmental coordination. 

“I think what we've seen missing in government, especially within this process, is accountability,” Villegas said. “I think that we need to shake it up a little bit because we're not in a position where we can afford, figuratively and literally, to have developments slowing down and in some cases not coming to fruition.”    

The alderman said long development timelines can kill deals and imperil a project’s financing, which makes the city less competitive. He said he’d look at other ways to minimize development timelines, whether that be through code revisions or new practices. 

Villegas may have to contend with provisions of the governor’s Building Up Illinois Developments (BUILD) package, which includes six legislative proposals aimed at loosening zoning restrictions on multi-unit housing and accessory dwelling units statewide, reducing municipalities’ ability to block certain housing developments and modernizing the development code to introduce more flexibility and remove red tape. 

The measures would prevent local zoning boards from prohibiting multi-unit housing on lots larger than 2,500 square feet; prevent municipalities from requiring multiple staircases for smaller buildings that are under six stories and meet fire safety standards; and to require municipalities to use a statewide formula structure when levying impact fees. 

The measures would also legalize accessory dwelling units in all residential zoning districts without additional restrictions, limit parking requirements for new housing projects and require municipalities to complete plan reviews for single-unit and multi-unit housing within 15 business days and 30 days of an application’s submission, respectively. 

Related: Senate committee hears testimony on governor’s housing plan to expand multi-unit housing, ADUs  

While Villegas said he was still familiarizing himself with all the details of the proposal and has had some conversations with state lawmakers and the governor’s office, he said that even though housing supply and affordability are huge issues that need to be tackled, “when there's preemption [of local control], that’s always a concern.” 

“Home rule’s put in place for a reason, and I think having further discussion and talking about the details are important,” Villegas said. 

Villegas has also floated the idea of examining and possibly reforming aldermanic prerogative, the longstanding and informal practice under which the City Council gives a local alderperson veto power over development in their ward.   

He said he was most open to having discussions about it at least and less committal about what he thinks should be done. 

“At the end of the day, there's going to be a decision that's going to be made [on development],” Villegas said. “The question is, is it going to be your local elected representative or a bureaucrat from City Hall?” 

The zoning committee will meet May 6 at 10 a.m. in council chambers.