The power of the press.
It started with a simple article about developers paying to have their properties re-zoned in a Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune. The expose blossomed into a myriad of comments and subsequent features and commentary all the way to a piece soliciting comment from the Mayor. Chicago Neighborhoods were beginning to look a bit more like the image below with set-offs and accommodations made in different zones for single-zoned lots and properties:
That media attention and discussion has now resulted in Senate Bills 2014 and 2022. SB 2014 seeks to allow de novo review of decisions regarding zoning applications, altering the previous system of review upon the approval and adoption of a zoning decision. SB 2022 alters the notice times for publication regarding hearings for changes, and in unincorporated parts of the state, requires that notice be sent to adjacent parcels within 1.5 miles of the proposed re-zoning.These changes come too fast on the heals of those articles and reports to realistically be deemed anything but fallout from scrutiny into the development practices going on in the State. Thus, developers should be aware that they may soon have a few extra technical hurdles to overcome before getting those zoning requirements they need for their projects.
