The Sierra Club backs Shape Oak Park zoning reforms
One of the country's largest environmental groups wrote to the Village Board: build up near transit, or build out into farmland.
On September 30, the Sierra Club's Chicago Group sent a letter to the Oak Park Village Board strongly supporting Shape Oak Park. The Sierra Club is one of the oldest and largest environmental groups in the country. The Chicago Group covers Oak Park and nearby suburbs.
Their point is simple. If we don't build new housing near trains and buses in places like Oak Park, it gets built on farmland at the edge of the region, where everyone has to drive everywhere. The environmental implications are clear.
Here are a few highlights from the letter:
"The simple truth is that we can either build UP through gentle housing density near transit or build OUT through suburban sprawl."
"Each time we choose not to build a dense housing project in a transit-rich community like Oak Park, a large plot of farmland 40 miles west of here is converted into a new car-centric subdivision."
"People who live in higher-density neighborhoods near public transit produce only half the emissions of people in low-density areas."
Read the full letter from the Sierra Club here.
What you can do
The Plan Commission will hold its public hearing on Shape Oak Park on Thursday, October 8, from 6 to 9:30 p.m. at the OPRF Auditorium. Please come and say why you support more homes in Oak Park. A short personal story is the most persuasive thing you can share. Hearing details are on the Village's Shape Oak Park site.
Thank you to the Sierra Club for standing up for a greener, more welcoming Oak Park.