^ That's actually an improvement, I think previous versions of the ordinance didn't allow ADUs in RS1/RS2 at all. Certainly the process of applying for and receiving a special use from ZBA is a complicated one; most people are probably better off hiring a lawyer to help them navigate it, so the cost is a serious issue. It probably ends up at around $5000 in lawyer fees and city fees just to get the special use, which isn't great for low-income homeowners on the Far South Side or Southwest Side who might want to build an ADU. Developers, and homeowners in better-off parts of the city, might have an easier time with the fees but I'm guessing the intent of the law is to allow for true granny-flat/in-law situations. Unfortunate since multi-generational households are much more common in the lower-income areas.
That said, most of the neighborhoods you think of as "single-family" are probably RS3 or higher so a single ADU will be allowed as-of-right, probably 60-70% of the city's land area. RS1/RS2 are mainly neighborhoods on the fringes of the city... basically west of Austin or north of Lawrence on the North Side, and west of Pulaski/south of 79th on the South Side. The entire West Side to the city limit is RS-3 or higher. Also, all lakefront neighborhoods are RS-3 or higher, and parts of the city outside of those boundaries above are RS-3 or higher as well.
Unfortunately the ARO ordinance does not make any kind of accommodation to transit... the are around Harlem Blue Line, for example, is all RS-1 and RS-2 but could greatly benefit from some "gentle density". Same for the Pulaski Orange Line, or the 95th Red Line. These are all bus transfer stations with very few walk-up riders, but it doesn't have to be that way.
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la forme d'une ville change plus vite, hélas! que le coeur d'un mortel...
Last edited by ardecila; Jun 2, 2020 at 4:15 AM.
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