ADU citywide expansion ordinance introduced to new City Council

And ADU news you can use in May 2023

Citywide expansion — Last year’s ADU citywide expansion bill was among the majority of unadopted ordinances killed in City Council on May 24, but new 44th Ward Alderperson Lawson introduced a replacement bill.

Fellow new alderperson Bill Conway told Chicago Cityscape, “I am all for expanding the ADU pilot citywide. In the 34th Ward, there are likely UIC students living in ADUs currently, to give one example of who benefits from them, and it’s important that we bring them online and up to building code standards.”

Alderperson Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th Ward), the new zoning committee chair, said, “I was proud to bring ADUs to the vast majority of my ward [in December 2020] and to co-sponsor a measure last term for citywide expansion of the ADU program. I’m pleased Mayor Brandon Johnson’s affordable housing platform included expanding the ADU pilot to all areas of the city, and I look forward to working with all stakeholders to make progress on this issue.”

Rosa sets the committee’s agenda and can bring up the newly proposed ordinance up for discussion. While the next zoning committee meeting is on June 20 there is likely to be considerable discussion amongst incumbent and new members of City Council that would put off a vote to a later date.

News you can use

• ADU construction — Another company shared some construction progress photos with us of an ADU they’re building. James Construction Group is constructing this backyard house, designed by Latent Design, in Lakeview. (see above)
• City is hiring — The Chicago Department of Housing is hiring a “housing development coordinator” who will split their time between ADU and ETOD initiatives. Applications are being accepted until the end of Friday, June 2, 2023. (We are super excited someone will be dedicated to further developing and promoting those policies.)
• 158 ADU building permits have been issued — This represents 191 new dwelling units. The ADU ordinance’s effectiveness period turned two years old on May 1, 2023. View more ADU statistics, including the wards and community areas that have seen the most ADU permits.
• ADU policy reform — We recapped the ADU event we cohosted in March at CMAP’s office alongside the Preservation Compact and Sightline Planning. There are many outstanding questions that need further discussion to further the construction of ADUs in Chicago and the region.
• Eligibility lookup — While the five pilot areas still exist, it’s necessary to look up an address to determine eligibility. When you do, we’ll record the yes or no result in our database so we can determine where the most interest is. Currently, the 39th Ward has the most “not eligible” lookups. We hope that Alderperson Nugent will support the citywide expansion ordinance.
• Petition for citywide ADUs — Show your support for a citywide ADU expansion ordinance by adding your name to this petition sponsored by the Urban Environmentalists of Illinois.

ADU citywide expansion ordinance introduced to new City Council was originally published in Chicago Cityscape’s Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.