A perfect example of how zoning bans affordable housing

On July 30th, 2024, the Oak Park Village Board approved the affordable housing project at 1106 Madison. This will be a five story, 36 unit building. It's being built by the folks who did the Sugar Beet Co-op building and will be run by Housing Forward. It's a laudable project and a good addition to the village.

Here's a list of the variances required to make this project work:

1. 6'4" extra height allowance, above the currently allowed 50'
2. Relief from the current maximum unit density of 12 allowed units, to allow 36 units.
3. Relief on minimum setback from three feet, to zero feet.
4. Relief is requested to reduce the number of required onsite parking spaces from 36 spaces to six spaces, requiring an allowance of 30 spaces.

Without these variances, this project doesn't get built. This is an excellent example of how zoning effectively bans affordable construction. The only work around is to approach the Board, hat in hand, and beg for exceptions. That's slow, and it wastes a lot of staff time. Hundreds of hours of staff research and planning time went into approving this application. How does that scale?

It doesn't, and that's on purpose. This process gives land owners control over what gets built, and where. This was deemed to be a socially desirable project in an acceptable location, and suddenly all of the 'scientific' or planning based reasons for these zoning restrictions melt away and massive variances are granted. What about green space? What about parking? Shade? Air? Light? Those are concerns only in the abstract to give land owners legitimate sounding reasons to control what gets built where.