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Proposal for Maryville Site Approved by Chicago Plan Commission

By Josh McGhee | January 22, 2016 9:53am | Updated on January 22, 2016 5:22pm
 An aerial view rendering of the proposed JDL development.
An aerial view rendering of the proposed JDL development.
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Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture

UPTOWN — The controversial $125 million project JDL Development proposed for the Clarendon/Montrose Tax Increment Financing District was OK'd by the Chicago Plan Commission with little opposition from the panel but plenty from the community Thursday.

The commission voted on a proposal to amend the planned development "through the demolition of all existing structures and the construction of two new high rise buildings and one single-story, retail structure."

The retail structure also needed to be rezoned from a residential multiunit building to a community shopping district, according to the agenda. The commission "is responsible for the review of proposals that involve Planned Developments (PDs), the Lakefront Protection Ordinance, Planned Manufacturing Districts (PMDs), Industrial Corridors and Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts."

The commission wasn't voting on the more controversial elements of the plan, which include affordable housing and delegating TIF funds to private developers. Earlier this week, the Chicago Reader dove into the TIF issues on the proposed plan in Uptown, which requires about $16 million in TIF funding.

Nearly a dozen residents spoke out against the development during the discussion, which ran over an hour Thursday afternoon. The commission then voted 10-2 in favor of the plan, with the two no votes coming from Bishop John Bryant and Juan Carlos Linares, executive director of the Latin United Community Housing Association.

Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), who questioned developers several times during the meeting, abstained from voting.

"You can do much better," Linares noted to developers as he cast his no vote.

While the TIF issue and affordable housing were supposedly off the table, the topics popped up during discussion of the plan.

"This proposed Montrose-Clarendon development will overshadow a wonderful park [and] will create a greater divide between the haves and have-nots in Uptown and has not responded to the need Uptown currently has," said Seva Gandhi, of the Institute of Cultural Affairs, adding that homeless people living under viaducts show "daily that there is a need in the current community for affordable housing that is not being met in Uptown."

Gandhi's community engagement agency also opposed the project because developers failed to take in diverse voices in the planning of project, he said.

"I agree there have been community meetings, but as a community engagement specialist myself, and a facilitator, I can say those meetings only took into account the voices of individuals who have one particular vision of Uptown," Gandhi said.

"Each meeting was met with more people actually opposing the project, but those were not the people who got a say or vote in the project. It is the community of color that will be most impacted by this development ... and from our view, there are almost no people of color engaged in this project."

The ward has been debating proposals for the prime lakefront site on Montrose Avenue for well over three years. JDL Development submitted its proposal in October 2012. In 2014, JDL redesigned its plan after pushback on several issues related to affordable housing, historic preservation and TIF funding. In 2015, JDL Development struck a deal with the owner of the Maryville Academy site to move the project forward.

In December, the plan was approved by the 46th Ward Zoning and Development Committee after heated debate. Earlier this month, the project was approved by the Community Development Commission after two hours of debate, which resulted in a unanimous vote for the project.

Mariah DiGrino, an attorney representing the developers, said that 20 of the 381 units would be affordable housing.

"That's above and beyond what is required for the affordability requirements of this project," she said.

That 5 percent affordable housing allotment meets the minimum on-site requirement for a project in a TIF district, but owners would have to pay an "in lieu" fee to satisfy the city-set mandate of 20 percent low-income housing. Developers would pay $5.7 million to the Chicago Low Income Trust Fund to satisfy the requirement.

Before casting his no vote, Bryant took issue with the amount of affordable housing being presented in the project as it relates to the current political climate and the Laquan McDonald shooting.

"My life has been given to speaking for the poor and the marginalized," Bryant said. "In the last political election, with great pain, I watched the Republicans carry the banner for the upper class and the Democrats carry the banner for the middle class, but neither party said much about the poor.

"I'm disturbed. I thought — and I had been bragging — that TIF money always went to create affordable housing and now I'm hearing that's not completely the case," he continued.

"I guess I'm in the season of my life where my trust factor is really lowered."

The Chicago Plan Commission has 22 members including appointments from the mayor that must be approved by City Council. Appointed members include: Martin Cabrera, Jr., Smita Shah, Leslie Bond, Bishop John Bryant, Laura Flores, Doris Holleb, Juan Carlos Linares, Sarah Lyons, Linda Searl and Daniel Sih. Ex-officio members include: Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Ald. Edward Burke (14th), Ald. Walter Burnett, Jr. (27th), Michael P. Kelly, Rebekah Scheinfield, David Reifman, Terry Peterson, Patricia Scudiero, Ald. Daniel Solis (25th), Ald. Howard Brookins, Jr. (21st), Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) and Ald. Joe Moore (49th).

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