Old Town, Edgewater zoning proposals that have neighborhoods divided approved by Plan Commission

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Zoning proposals have residents in two North Side neighborhoods divided.

Chicago's Department of Planning and Development is considering changing the zoning for Broadway from Devon to Montrose avenues.

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Also on the table is a contentious residential tower proposed in Old Town at 1600 N. La Salle Drive.

Redeveloping the corner of LaSalle and North Avenue has been years in the making. A proposal to build a large residential tower has gone back to the drawing board several times at the urging of the local alderman.

"I had to take a position against it in order to get the developer to the negotiating table," 2nd Ward Ald. Brian Hopkins said.

Hopkins now supports the controversial project, after getting the developer, Fern Hill, to scale the plan down by an average of 21%.

"The height is reduced by, I believe, 22%. The unit count is reduced by 25%, the number of parking spaces reduced by about 22%," Hopkins said.

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Hopkins said the developer has agreed to sign a 75-year lease with Walgreens, build a grocery store and pay for over a million dollars in traffic improvements.

Despite this, many Old Town residents say the project is too dense for a neighborhood that fought for years to preserve and down-zone.

"I never thought I would be down here repeating this years after we won the battle. What has changed in these past years? Nothing," Diane Gonzales said.

Residents took their concerns to the Chicago Plan Commission.

The government body considered the development as well as another controversial North Side project on a stretch of Broadway between Montrose and Devon, close to the Red and Purple CTA Modernization Program.

"So, we want as many people to take advantage of that, and, at the same time, we need to make sure that we're building more affordable housing for Chicago," 47th Ward Ald. Matt Martin said.

Martin says the point of the project is to build more affordable housing, but some longtime Edgewater residents have concerns about changing zoning laws to build more density.

"We are a welcoming community; we are not against affordable housing. We're not against development; we are against this proposal," one person said.

Both North Side projects won the approval of the Chicago Plan Commission Thursday. The final two hurdles are City Council's Zoning Committee and the full City Council.