Chicago Approves Big Expansion of TOD Ordinance

According to an article by Steven Vance, "the Chicago City Council passed a transit-oriented development reform ordinance that dramatically more than doubles the distance around train stations where dense development can be built, and virtually eliminates the car parking minimums within these districts."

"The new legislation amends the city’s original TOD ordinance, which passed in 2013 and has been highly successful in spurring new building projects."

The Emanuel Administration announced the expanded TOD ordinance in July, "as an important step forward in growing our city toward its transit system."

Vance describes how the new ordinance will accomplish that ambition: "Under the new ordinance, land zoned for business and residential (B), commercial (C), downtown (D) or industrial (M) uses within 1,320 feet (quarter mile) of a station is freed from the parking minimums altogether. On a Pedestrian Street, a special zoning designation that preserves a street’s walkable character, the TOD district is expanded to 2,640 feet (half mile) from the station."

"Residential developments that will include less than a 1:2 parking ratio, or no parking at all, must go through the city’s administrative adjustment process. The local alderman can also write a letter or testify before the Zoning Board of Appeals on the subject, and it’s uncommon for the board to go against aldermen’s wishes."

The Metropolitan Planning Council has already estimated that the new ordinance increases tenfold the land area available for development without the city's normal parking minimums.

The article includes a lot more detail about the new regulatory regime enacted by this momentous ordinance.