Real estate investors looking to tear down, construct or redevelop residential buildings into single-family homes along the western portion of The 606 could be in for a wait.
In an effort to slow the displacement of lower-income residents, two aldermen whose wards include parts of the elevated trail are proposing rules that would put a 14-month moratorium on building and demolition permits and zoning changes.
During the more than year-long freeze, the city and neighborhood groups would formulate policies to slow or stop the loss of longtime residents to rising home prices, property taxes and rents near The 606, the aldermen said.
The ordinance, introduced Dec. 18, is sponsored by Ald. Roberto Maldonado, 26th, and Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th.
“What I hope will happen in a year is to have clear guidelines in the 606 designated area so we can slow down and hopefully stop gentrification, so that people who look like me can stay in the area,” Maldonado said. “Right now, we are being pushed out. I’m trying to stop market-rate developers from pushing people of color out of the neighborhood.”
If passed, the moratorium would be effective from Feb. 1 through March 31, 2021.
The area impacted would be bounded by Western Avenue, on the eastern one-third of the trail, through Kostner Avenue a few blocks west of the trailhead. The zone also would extend about a half-mile north of the trail to Palmer Street and a half-mile south to Hirsch Street.
The aldermen said they hope to have the ordinance approved at Tuesday’s meeting of the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate and passed by the full City Council at the Jan. 15 meeting.
The only exceptions to the moratorium would be in cases where a building needs to be demolished for safety reasons or to accommodate developments whose new units all would have affordable rents, the aldermen said.
While the eastern portions of the trail were already upscale residential areas, the path’s emergence as a recreational attraction also has pushed the surge in property values toward the western edge of the trail.
The ordinance would halt the demolition of two- and three-flat buildings, and conversions of such structures to large single-family homes, the aldermen said. Teardowns and deconversions are reducing the number of homes and causing real estate values to soar, allowing wealthier buyers and renters to replace longtime residents who can’t afford to stay, they said.
During the moratorium, the city, neighborhood groups such as the Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Latin United Community Housing Association (LUCHA), and others can study displacement of residents and come up with proposals to slow or reverse the trend, the ordinance’s co-sponsors said. Findings would be reported to the housing committee next January.
The legislation potentially could be widened to include other areas of the city where multi-unit apartment buildings are being replaced by larger homes, or perhaps even to the entire city, Ramirez-Rosa said.
“It’s really looking to address the unintended consequences of The 606,” Ramirez-Rosa said. “It’s a wonderful addition to the neighborhood, but we’ve lost so many two- and three-flats that have become luxury homes. The policy is to protect the supply that still exists, while we come up with a more robust policy that we hope could become a citywide policy.”
A study of a large portion of the proposed moratorium area found that median home prices rose from $97,000 in 2012 to $461,500 in mid-2019, according to Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University.
In recent years, teardowns and deconversions of small multifamily buildings have become common in neighborhoods such as North Center, Lincoln Park and Bucktown, Smith said.
“The loss of two- to four-flat buildings throughout the city is one of the key reasons for the loss of affordable rental housing,” Smith said.
The proposed moratorium is an opportunity to formulate ideas, Smith said. Concepts could include creating land trusts to buy residential buildings, and allowing smaller landlords to add revenue-generating basement units, which is now illegal in many cases, Smith said.
But the 14-month pause, on its own, is not a solution, he said.
“You’re not addressing demand,” Smith said of the moratorium. “By restricting supply in a high-demand area, are you at risk of adversely affecting affordability? There are benefits and costs to every policy consideration.
“The key will be to think about ways to create affordability. Over the longer term, without specifically addressing the affordability component, just freezing development isn’t going to accomplish that by itself.”
The 606, also known as the Bloomingdale Trail, opened in 2015.
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Starting at Ridgeway Avenue, the trail extends 2.7 miles east to Ashland Avenue near the Kennedy Expressway. The walking, running and biking path passes through the Humboldt Park, Logan Square, Wicker Park and Bucktown neighborhoods on the city’s Northwest Side. The trail connects to a series of parks.
The newly proposed ordinance would replace previously discussed legislation such as imposing steep demolition and deconversion fees near the trail, the aldermen said. That proposed ordinance was tabled after concerns from the city’s law and planning departments about whether it would withstand legal challenges, according to the aldermen.
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