Plans to protect affordable housing in Pilsen, near 606 park move forward to full City Council
Chicago aldermen on Tuesday advanced plans aimed at slowing gentrification in the Pilsen neighborhood on the Near South Side and near The 606 elevated park on the Northwest Side.
With real estate development going through the roof in both parts of the city, aldermen have been trying for years to protect affordable housing for the working-class, largely Latino residents who have long lived in the areas.
The zoning committee passed two ordinances Tuesday to try to do that. Both will head to the full City Council on Wednesday.
In Pilsen, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, are both backing an anti-deconversion ordinance designed to make it harder for developers to purchase buildings with multiple apartments and convert them into expensive single-family homes.
After earlier proposals to landmark parts of Pilsen to slow development and to place a moratorium on demolition there both failed, Sigcho-Lopez on Tuesday thanked the Lightfoot administration for working to come up with the new plan.
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The Pilsen ordinance passed despite pushback from some aldermen who said they worry it establishes an unconstitutional rule to prevent property owners from using their buildings in the most profitable way possible.
The zoning committee also approved an ordinance backed by Lightfoot and Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, to make it harder for developers to turn apartment buildings into single-family homes on some blocks near The 606 elevated park that stretches along former train tracks through parts of the Humboldt Park, Logan Square, Wicker Park and Bucktown neighborhoods.
Under the plan, if more than half the properties on blocks with certain types of zoning rules are multi-unit buildings, then only multi-unit buildings could be developed on those blocks.
The 606 ordinance also extends for two months anti-demolition rules for the area around the park, while Ramirez-Rosa said he will continue working to finalize rules to assess demolition impact fees on new developments in the area.
There have been various efforts to protect apartments near the park since it opened in 2015 and real estate prices in the vicinity started to skyrocket.
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