A group of suburban mayors is concerned legislation meant to expand affordable housing in Illinois could take away local control over what gets built and where.
“We don’t believe that it’s been thought through. It doesn’t take into account how communities were created,” said Nicole Milovich-Walters, the mayor of Palos Park.
Instead of leaving zoning regulations up to local communities, the package of bills would make a series of changes that would affect housing statewide, including allowing small apartment buildings in residential areas and smaller second homes, like backyard cottages and granny flats, on lots that already have single-family homes.
Illinois is short roughly 142,000 housing units and will need to build over 225,000 units in five years to keep up with growing demand, according to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s office.
Because of that shortage, Pritzker introduced the Building Up Illinois Developments, or BUILD, plan as part of his “State of the State” address in February.
The governor’s office sees the legislation as a way to create more starter homes and cut red tape, so developers can build faster. But many suburban mayors have registered against the bills, in large part because they think zoning decisions should be left up to their individual towns and cities.
Some cities, including Palos Park have even drafted sample letters for residents to voice their concerns to Pritzker and lawmakers.
“We were developed intentionally over the last 114 years to keep open space. And giving up the idea of giving up our zoning rights and how we do things, it could be detrimental in many ways to Palos Park,” Milovich-Walters said.
Housing advocates voiced their support during a committee hearing Thursday.
“Everyone is struggling with a lack of affordable quality supply for people to buy homes, whether it’s a single family home or a condominium,” said Bob Palmer from Housing Action Illinois.
Jim Dodge, the mayor of Orland Park, said the legislation “needs some work.” His primary concern is how it would impact infrastructure.
“If we start adding a lot more housing, that’s going to impact flooding and stormwater management and other public services. So, we need to think those things through,” Dodge said.
He also added, “Is there a place for multifamily housing? Sure. Where to put it and how do you fit that into the design of your town is the open question, and that’s why every town in Illinois is different, which is why they’re going to get a lot of different opinions from every mayor in Illinois.”
There are concerns about impeding local control from officials and residents like Jay Vincent.
“In the end, we want to have a say in what is built in Palos Park,” Vincent said. “We just updated our code here in Palos Park, and we had great public participation throughout the community, and we really appreciate having a say on what gets built in our community.
Olivia Ortega, director of housing solutions for the Governor’s Office, responded to concerns during the hearing, explaining that communities would still guide the design of their neighborhoods.
“If your community is used to duplexes or four-flats, you can design standards to support those forms. If your neighborhoods are primarily single-family (homes), you can shape how smaller-scale options like cottage homes fit into those areas,” Ortega said.
What else is in the bills?
Changes would also be made to the the timelines in which housing permit reviews and inspections have to be conducted to prevent project delays. If deadlines are missed, third-party review would be allowed.
Another bill would limit how much parking cities in Illinois are allowed to require for new housing. For multifamily buildings, cities can require no more than half a parking space per unit.
Currently, buildings taller than three stories must have two separate exit stairways, but one of the bills would allow apartment buildings up to six stories to have a single exit stairway. The governor’s staff said that would expand the types of housing units that could be designed.
