Mayor Brandon Johnson on Friday released a vision for speeding up development throughout the city.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file
Mayor Brandon Johnson took the first step Friday to overhaul Chicago’s bloated development processes, making more than 100 recommendations on how to streamline licensing, permitting and development plans.
Johnson released his Cut the Tape report on Friday, targeting the first part of his three-part approach to simplify the city’s housing and commercial development approval processes.
The report aims to answer the question: What does the city need to do to enable development?
The answer is a lot, the report found. It includes recommendations for development process improvement, including enhancements in internal and external communication; accountability; resource optimization; and the elimination of redundant processes, according to a news release from Johnson’s office.
Cut the Tape also highlights Johnson’s “10 Big Bets,” or “signature” recommendations that address some of the biggest issues revolving around the development process.
“Our mission is to foster growth and elevate Chicago’s economic landscape, as outlined in the Cut the Tape report, which aims for a more effective and streamlined development process,” Johnson said in a news release.
“This strategy will quickly increase residential
and commercial projects, stimulating business sectors and addressing the urgent need for housing. Together, we’re breaking down barriers to progress and building a prosperous city for all.”
For decades, Chicago mayors have attempted to streamline City Hall’s notoriously slow and arcane bureaucracy to accelerate approval of licensing, permitting and development plans to help businesses and reduce their costs. But the work never seems to be done.
Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot signed an executive order within hours of taking office stripping alderpersons of their iron-fisted control over licensing and permitting in their wards and vowed to do the same with aldermanic prerogative over zoning. But the City Council refused to go along with it.
Even Lightfoot’s allies, including then-Zoning Chair Tom Tunney (44th), opposed the move. And Lightfoot lost her reelection bid before achieving the reforms in a system that she had long argued was at the root of so much City Hall corruption.
City leaders involved in the report conceded in a Friday media briefing how broken the development process is. But they also shared a hearty amount of optimism.
John Roberson, the city’s chief operating officer, said those 100 proposals aren’t just a wish list — they’re rooted in best practices. The mayor’s office spoke to more than 100 city staff, 90 external stakeholders and six peer cities to compile its report. Peer cities include Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.
“Today is … a watershed moment for our city because it is the beginning of the next phase that is going to help to enable affordable housing, is going to help enable small businesses in entrepreneurship development because it’s going to provide the type of ecosystem that is going to be enabling of that,” John Roberson said in a briefing. “It is going to enable all of the things that are going to touch every single corner of the city and is going to result in every resident being able to experience their highest and best quality of life.”
At the top of Johnson’s “big bets” in the report is creating a new director of process improvement position in the mayor’s office. That individual will hold departments involved in the development process accountable and shepherd changes under the report. The city has already started the development process.
Other recommendations:
Policy: Initiate expedited reviews for affordable housing projectsZoning: Adopt transformational zoning changes, including eliminating minimum parking requirements, streamlining special use permits and moreBoards & Commissions: Evaluate the feasibility of streamlining the Community Development Commission and Chicago Planning CommissionDesign & Construction: Streamline the Department of Housing’s Architectural and Technical Standards manualDesign: Reduce the number of internal design review meetings in the Department of Planning and Development from three to one; reassess the role of the Committee on DesignEnvironmental Review: Eliminate Phase 1 & 2 environmental reviews as a requirement for the sale for environmentally cleared city-owned parcelsFinance: Expand the pilot for cash advance payment optionsFinance: Create an online “city wallet” account to improve options for customer billing, online payments and debt checkProcurement: Evaluate the feasibility of reducing the administrative burden of the city’s Economic Disclosure Statement