One of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s rare wins tied to the real estate community is now under threat.
A group of North Side residents known as Edgewater Residents for Responsible Development filed a lawsuit against the city this week, seeking to reverse an upzoning measure passed in October that would allow for more density along a stretch of North Broadway Street.
It allows for taller, denser developments and a wider mix of commercial uses along a three-mile section of the corridor from Devon to Montrose avenues in Edgewater and Uptown.
The residents’ group alleges in the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court that the city council passed the zoning measure without properly informing all affected property owners of the ordinance’s impact and that it constituted government overreach.
“The Edgewater upzoning was unprecedented both in terms of the distance covered and the sheer number of properties affected,” the complaint states.
A representative of the mayor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The lawsuit is the latest escalation in long simmering tension over the measure, which has led to delayed votes and prompted the residents’ group to take out a billboard along North Broadway.
“Stuck in traffic? Can’t find parking? 1,000 new residents won’t help! Say no to upzoning,” the sign reads.
The new zoning map reclassifies most of Broadway between Winona Street and Montrose Avenue to allow buildings up to about 80 feet tall and a variety of uses, including bars, dispensaries, tattoo parlors and salons. A new pedestrian street overlay will prohibit curb cuts and surface parking and require drive-thru businesses to maintain a walkable streetscape.
Proponents of the measure, including many in the real estate industry, celebrated the upzoning as a way to spur much needed housing in a historic drought of new multifamily construction that is causing spikes in rent.
It was a much-needed win for the mayor’s administration vis-à-vis the industry after he came under fire for a proposed increase to the transfer tax and the city council’s support for right of first refusal measures on parts of the Northwest and South sides.
Johnson has, however, pushed forward similar YIMBY-style measures throughout the city that curried favor with the real estate industry. In July, the city council passed an ordinance eliminating parking minimums for much of the city. And in 2023, he rolled out the “Cut the Tape” campaign aimed at reducing wait times for construction permitting.
Still, Chicago’s individual aldermen and neighborhood leaders wield significant power on the city council.
One alderman successfully lobbied to reduce the impact of an ADU ordinance late last year. And the use of aldermanic privilege to determine the fate of proposed developments in any particular ward remains the standard way of doing business, despite its bias toward NIMBYism as alleged in a HUD investigation.