Legislation designed to simplify residential and commercial development — from a homeowner building an addition on their house, to a project covering an entire downtown city block — will soon be before the Waukegan City Council.
Combining the city’s zoning, subdivision, tree preservation and landscape, sign and design guidelines into the Unified Development Ordinance, which has been several years in the making, is supposed to make the task of property owners and developers simpler.
“It puts a lot of the information more clearly in the hands of residents and businesses on making decisions on what they want to do with their property,” Katherine Darnstadt, a consultant who has helped the city craft the ordinance, said.
Darnstadt made her comments during an extensive presentation to the council’s Community Development Committee on June 3 at City Hall. Committee members had few questions because they have offered their guidance for nearly a year.
“We all have had several meetings on all this,” Ald. Lynn Florian, 8th Ward, said at the meeting. “We’ve had a lot of time to ask questions. We’ve been able to ask questions throughout the whole process.”
Mayor Ann Taylor said she anticipates the council will vote on the ordinance in July. She believes it will ease the way for major developments in the city like the The Temporary at American Place casino and the permanent one planned in the future.
“I expect this to be attractive to developers when considering whether to respond for proposals for lakefront and downtown redevelopment,” Taylor said last year, when talking about the Unified Development Ordinance.
Sam Greene, a planner with the city, said at the meeting the proposed new ordinance will be able to help Waukegan address issues raised over the years by homeowners, businesses and developers. It goes beyond their suggestions.
“It addresses our imminent climate impact with green infrastructure, with carbon reduction sustainable for the long-term and it’s something that protects trees, (our) historic assets (and) its natural features to make our city a more pleasant place to be,” Greene said.
Starting with the city’s 1987 comprehensive plan, Darnstadt said several ordinances were created like the one for zoning and subdivisions. It became part of the comprehensive land use plan four years ago, and is now incorporated into the proposed legislation.
Under present regulations, when a business wants to open in a location there are specific parking requirements. Darnstadt said that will no longer be the case under the new law. Those minimums will be gone. The approach will implement more common sense, she said.
“It gives a little more flexibility to development,” Darnstadt said. “Parcels that might be a little too small previously, because they require more parking, now suddenly become more attractive because less parking is required.”
While the existing ordinances impacting building and development contain primarily words, Darnstadt said the Unified Development Ordinance utilizes drawings and their techniques to simplify things for the user, as well as city employees helping them.
Should a homeowner, business owner or developer want to do something with the a piece of real estate, she said they will find everything in one place. Instead of 26 different zoning districts throughout the city, there will be 17. It is simpler to find the requirements, she said.
“All of these are little moves help encourage development, making parcels more attractive to both homeowners and for business development,” Darnstadt said. “This is more searchable and applicable to homeowners and businesses.”
Among some of the changes, she said minimum lot sizes will be reduced. The need for arithmetic calculations to determine how large a building can be placed on a lot is no longer required.
Placing landscaping rules within development requirements allows the city to take a more ecological approach. Darnstadt said an effort will be made to keep required plantings in places like a parking lot native to the area. It lets homeowners think long-term.
“It expands homeowners’ property rights by making it more clear what makes homeowners think about how they want to live, stay, grow and retire,” she said.
