Quote:
Originally Posted by Randomguy34
Interesting, the city is proposing to implement a new street designation called "TOD Streets". These would different from the existing "Pedestrian Street" designation by requiring any zoning changes to be B or C1 with a minimum of FAR 3. While not an upzone, it does prevent downzoning which is good IMO. The ordinance would also encourage more pedestrian-friendly design standards while placing more restrictions on auto-oriented land use. This would be much stronger if it applied as-of-right to all surround rail and bus stops rather than require alder buy-in to select streets of their choosing. Of course, alders wouldn't vote for an ordinance that takes away their ability to downzone
https://chicityclerkelms.chicago.gov/Matter/?matterId=275AD0C6-BE53-F111-BEC6-001DD8033B18 |
Maybe I'm cynical but this seems like a wolf in sheep's clothing. The kicker here is the deletion in 17-3-0308. When the city passed Connected Communities a few years ago, one of the provisions was to make all development in TOD areas around train stations subject to the existing P Street standards. Problem is, a lot of train stations are in very auto-centric areas.
E.g. anyone looking to build a Mobil or a Popeyes along the Dan Ryan or the Eisenhower now suddenly found that they had to totally redo their site plan in a more urban style due to the nearby CTA stations. Even renovations or simple changes to the curb cuts could trigger this provision. The half mile radius is huge too, you could be four full blocks away from the train on a totally different street and still face this requirement. Business owners have been complaining, aldermen have been screaming at DPD for years to "fix" the issue, and maybe with Villegas running the Zoning Committee they finally have a sympathetic leader to push it thru Council.
Separately, I think some aldermen looked at the genuinely bold corridor upzonings on Western and Broadway and came up with this toothless "TOD Streets" alternative, which doesn't actually upzone any property and still forces developers to come to the alderman one by one to beg for permission.
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