Politics

Developer Moves Forward With Lincoln Park Apartment Complex, Setting Stage for Fight Over Aldermanic Prerogative

One of Chicago’s largest developers will invoke a little-known and untested provision of city law in an attempt to win approval for a 615-unit apartment complex in Lincoln Park, setting the stage for a major fight over the decades-old tradition that gives Chicago City Council members the final authority over housing developments in their own wards.

Sterling Bay will hold a community meeting at 6 p.m. Jan. 15 at 1840 N. Marcey St., the site of the planned development that would build two towers — one reaching 25 stories and the other 15 stories — across the north branch of the Chicago River from the planned Lincoln Yards megadevelopment, which has yet to get off the ground.

That meeting, designed to again give community members a chance to weigh in on the project, is the first step on a path that could result in the apartment complex's approval by the City Council despite the opposition of Ald. Scott Waguespack, whose 32nd Ward includes the proposed development.

Waguespack contends the development is too dense, too tall, would worsen the area’s perpetual traffic gridlock and does not have the support of nearby residents.

A Sterling Bay spokesperson told WTTW News the developer had informed Waguespack of the planned community meeting and offered to restart negotiations in an attempt “to do its part in finding a solution” but had not gotten a response as of Wednesday. Waguespack did not respond to a request for comment from WTTW News on Wednesday.

Mayor Brandon Johnson supports the development, which would set aside 124 units for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans. Johnson has made expanding the number of affordable homes in Chicago a priority.

The long-gestating fight over the development, which was first proposed in October 2023 and approved by the Plan Commission in June, reached a flashpoint in December, after the City Council’s Zoning Committee voted to reject the development.

Normally, that recommendation would have been ratified by the full City Council at its next meeting, which took place Dec. 11. But Ald. Walter Burnett (27th Ward), the chair of the Zoning Committee, declined to ask the City Council to do so, prompting an outraged Waguespack to accuse Johnson, Burnett and his allies of violating the City Council’s rules.

Had the City Council voted to confirm the committee’s rejection of the development, that would have been the final nail in its coffin.

But the project remains alive due to an obscure part of the city’s zoning code, according to documents obtained by WTTW News. Developers of projects that include affordable units but fail to get an up-or-down vote by the City Council after being approved by the Plan Commission can essentially bypass the Zoning Committee and force the City Council to consider their proposal.

The deadline for the City Council to act was Dec. 25, records show.

“Chicago’s Department of Housing has confirmed the proposal is ‘inclusionary,’ meaning it aligns with the city’s vision of developing more homes near transit and encouraging more diverse and affordable housing in every neighborhood,” according to a statement from a Sterling Bay spokesperson.

A representative of the Housing Department did not respond to a request for comment from WTTW News.

After the community meeting takes place, Sterling Bay can request that the Zoning Committee vote on the proposal, according to the code. It is unclear whether the committee’s Dec. 9 vote to reject the proposal will complicate Sterling Bay’s attempt to invoke this provision of city law, which has never been used before.

If the Zoning Committee does not act within 60 days, Burnett must “report the application to the City Council for consideration at the next regular City Council meeting” with a favorable recommendation, according to the city’s code.

However, even assuming that the project makes it back to the floor of the City Council, it is not clear whether it can win the support of a majority of the City Council. In the event of a tie, Johnson could break it, and approve the development.

If Waguespack remains opposed to the development, the other members of the City Council would be under intense pressure to uphold aldermanic prerogative, the decades-old tradition of giving City Council members the final authority over housing developments in their own wards.

Elected to the City Council in 2007, Waguespack was a thorn in the side of former Mayors Richard M. Daley and Rahm Emanuel. In 2011, Waguespack founded the Progressive Caucus and in 2019 was the first City Council member to endorse former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Waguespack did not endorse a candidate in the 2023 mayoral election, and Johnson ousted him as Finance Committee chairman when he took office. Since then, Waguespack has been an implacable foe of the mayor and frequently votes with the most conservative members of the City Council.

Only once in recent years has the City Council approved a high-profile project over the objection of the local alderperson. It is unclear whether Johnson, weakened from a protracted fight over the city budget, has enough political muscle to convince at least 25 alderpeople to buck the unwritten code that calls on them to mind their own business and vote along with the alderperson whose ward includes the project.

The looming showdown comes more than a year after a probe by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that aldermanic prerogative fuels segregation in Chicago and violates the civil rights of Black and Latino residents by limiting the creation of affordable housing.

A spokesperson for the city’s Law Department told WTTW News in October that officials are “currently engaged in discussions” designed to correct the problems identified by federal officials as they investigated a civil rights complaint filed in November 2018 by the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance.

The agency known as HUD concluded that aldermanic prerogative has created a hyper-segregated city rife with racism and gentrification.

Supporters of aldermanic prerogative tout it as the best way to ensure that Chicago residents live in neighborhoods governed by one of their own: someone who lives near them, understands their issues and is not only accessible — but also accountable to them on Election Day.

A decision by the City Council to block the construction of more than 100 affordable housing units in Lincoln Park, one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods, could complicate negotiations with federal officials to resolve the complaint and supercharge legal action against the city.

It is unclear how those negotiations will be impacted by the transition from the Biden administration to a second Trump administration set for later this month.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]

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