A Cook County circuit judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit arguing that two city ordinances upzoning nearly 2 miles of Broadway, from Montrose to Devon avenues, should be overturned.
The Broadway land use plan, approved in October 2025, includes more than 20 ordinances impacting what could be built along the central commercial corridor. The new zoning classification allows for buildings up to 80 feet and “a series of uses that are incompatible with the existing neighborhood,” according to the Edgewater Residents for Responsible Development’s complaint, such as gas stations, hotels, large entertainment venues, recycling facilities and crematoriums.
The Edgewater Residents group, along with 13 businesses and residents, sued the city of Chicago in January, with the city filing a motion to dismiss in March.
“As an organization dedicated to Chicagoans’ right to participate in government decisions that directly affect their neighborhoods and their lives, we are shocked by this decision,” Patricia Sharkey, president of ERRD, said in a news release. “ERRD and its co-plaintiffs will be evaluating their next steps, but this is too important to the lives of Edgewater residents and businesses for this narrow view of citizens’ rights to be the last word. An appeal is likely.”
Judge Neil Cohen said in his decision that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate how residents were deprived of their constitutionally protected interests, or how nearby residents were prejudiced by the city’s rollout of its public hearings and public comment period.
Last year, the Broadway development framework plan was endorsed 12-1 by the Chicago Plan Commission, after two hours of public testimony where most speakers were in opposition to the zoning changes. The commission also received about 450 pages of written comments before its meeting, with the majority supporting the proposal.
It took months for the proposal to reach the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards — largely because of an issue pointed out in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs said they weren’t given advance written notices about hearings for Broadway’s upzoning and that a “lottery system” for public speakers at the city’s zoning committee meeting denied them the chance to testify about the changes.
Ald. Bennett Lawson (44th), then-temporary zoning chairman, said during the committee meeting that the city met its obligations to notify property owners. He said many notices posted along the street were torn down or defaced, but they were replaced.
The city argued in its motion to dismiss the case that even if procedural due process violations occurred, Edgewater residents failed to show the impact of those violations in their lawsuit.
Cohen agreed and said a zoning classification is not a protected interest — either for a property owner or an adjacent property owner.
“The ordinances have not deprived the property-owning Plaintiffs of any of their current uses of their properties, but rather have increased the permissible uses of their properties,” Cohen wrote in his decision.
The ERRD had asked the court to revert the zoning to its previous classifications, invalidating the ordinances. The group has said it isn’t against new development in Edgewater, but rather the lack of public input and collaboration on crafting the plan.
Separately, the group issued a call in early June for the Chicago Park District to purchase an Edgewater synagogue’s lakefront property in order to block their development proposal and preserve the land as open park and beach space.