Down-Zoning for Area Around Columbus Hospital

Construction is expected to begin this year on the 325-unit, $500-million redevelopment of Columbus Hospital, but Lincoln Park community groups and Ald. Daley are preventing at least 300 more multifamily units from being built on 160 acres around the site, says Hanna, who has four cases pending against the city challenging the down-zoning.

Property on the 2700 blocks of Hampden Court and Pine Grove Avenue, as well as the 400 blocks of Deming Place and Wrightwood Avenue, will be zoned R-5, according to a committee recommendation to the city council. That allows a floor-area ratio of 2.2, down from the 4.4 allowed in R-6 zoning and 7.0 allowed in R-7.

Hanna disputes city claims that the buildings in the downzoned area already conform to R-5 rules, estimating 30% would not comply. In addition, one major property owner has a vacant parcel that could be developed, says an attorney for the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

"There's no basis for down-zoning these five areas," Hanna says. "The city is in desperate need of more housing at all price points."

The Lincoln Park area already ranks as one of the wealthiest communities with some of the most expensive housing in the city. Housing costs will be ratcheted even higher, Hanna maintains, by zoning that limits the number of units that can be built on vacant parcels or on land that is being redeveloped.

While median family income across the city has gone up 7.8 times since 1950, Hanna says it has jumped 20 times in Lincoln Park. Meanwhile, the community that Hanna also calls home has become less diverse. "The down-zoning has constantly and systematically reduced the black populations," he says. "They're modern-day Jim Crow laws."