July 19, 2012 Dear Neighbors, In recent days, there have been many conversations about multiple development

projects in the neighborhood, and unfortunately, there has been confusion about Northcenter Neighborhood Associations (NNAs) position with respect to these projects. We write this letter to clarify our position and to invite you to become part of a series of conversations to build a strategic plan for housing in our Ward. From its inception, NNA has been committed to representing our residents voices and values, and therefore we hope that all 47th Ward Residents will participate (or at least weigh in) in our development of a strategic plan for housing. We have scheduled a first in a series of community meeting next Tuesday, July 24th to create a forum for you to do this. Please visit this event page to RSVP. In recent weeks, Noah Properties sought a zoning change, from manufacturing to residential, for a property development on Irving Park Road for market-rate condos [the market rate condo project]. NNAs Zoning Committee took a look at the plan. Our position has always been that for any zoning change to occur, there must be a substantial community benefit. NNA concluded that because this project was for market rate condos, there was no community benefit as a result of the zoning change. There are already many market rate condos sitting vacant in our neighborhood, most significantly the project on Irving and Western that has been mostly vacant and a mess for a couple of years. We were also concerned that there were not ample opportunities for community input. As a result, we wrote a letter opposing the zoning change for the market rate condo project. Please click here to view this letter. At the time, we knew from the aldermans website that another proposal existed; however, the Noah Properties proposal was the only one under contract. This second project existed only in theory at this time, because it was not a final proposal and was not under contract. That project, the affordable project, is a 75-unit building consisting of 1-

NORTHCENTER NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION

PO BOX 180180 CHICAGO, IL 60618 Phone: 773- 326-2440 Email: info@northcenterneighborhood.org www.northcenterneighborhood.org

and 2-bedroom units ranging from $650 to $750 per month. These units would be available to qualified renters earning about $40,000 per year. We were aware of this project because it was listed on the Aldermans website, but because it is not a final proposal we have not taken a position on it and it was not addressed in our letter. We saw this affordable project as having potential to have a substantial community benefit. Residents of our community (and board) are active volunteers or clients at the Common Pantry. Part of the services that are offered is looking for housing for it's clients. The clients live in our neighborhood, and either because of the recession and job losses or a change in living situations (i.e., divorce), their current living situation is not sustainable. This is a reality of many of these long-term residents of the neighborhood where the majority of people in Northcenter had an average income of between $4550,000 in 2008. (See the data) Because of the swirling conversations about the nature of these projects and NNAs supposed positions on affordable housing, it seems like a good time to clarify NNAs position in general. Part of NNAs mission and one of our strategic goals for this year is to make sure that our neighborhood remains financially feasible for its long-time residents. That means that seniors who raised their families should be able to retire and remain here; that children who are raised in the neighborhood should be able to afford a rental apartment on a social worker or teachers salary; and families who feel the harsh displacement of this economic recession should be able to find an alternative place to live in the same school district while they put their financial situation back together. Northcenter has historically provided this diversity of housing, and NNA believes that is one reason we have such a strong and vibrant community of committed residents. We are not as transient as many "well off" neighborhoods. Diverse housing is able to accommodate people in many different stages of their life, from recent graduate to family housing to senior housing, whether you're an artist or a financier. We believe this kind of diversity creates stability in a community. As part of our environmental efforts, we also realize that living near your work is part of a "smart growth" plan. For our shop owners and businesses in the neighborhood, having stable employees who can live where they work is an idea that should be promoted environmentally. Therefore, we feel an opportunity like this would create a more stable neighborhood because it would offer diversity in housing choices to be able to accommodate lifestyle changes and growth.

When asked, NNA via its Board, Social Justice Committee and Zoning Committee will share and champion this priority for diversity in housing. That said we also have many other important values that weigh in on a project of this sort. We are committed to protecting and improving our neighborhood schools so we take a look at how a project will impact the affected schools. We are committed to open green spaces and environmental responsibility so we take a look at how the project will change our environmental health and impact the availability of green spaces. We are committed to giving a voice to the neighbors directly adjacent to properties so we are mindful of how the neighbors most impacted feel about the project. In rendering an opinion on any particular project, these are some of our values and priorities. Additionally, we are committed to seeking community input from you. Therefore, though we have not rendered an opinion on this affordable project, we hope this gives you an idea of how we would approach it and other similar projects in the future. After the Aldermans zoning committee rejected the Noah Properties market rate condos zoning change, NNA believed that the seller might become interested in the affordable project instead. We also realized that the project was likely to be poorly understood (for example, many were unaware it targeted families making $40,000 per year and was not subsidized housing) and therefore we pushed for community meetings to explain how any such proposal might work. We did and continue to believe that our neighborhood must come together, take ownership and make choices about how we want our neighborhood to look. We have from our inception been committed most to the idea that this is our community and our residents should have the decisive voice. We therefore scheduled our own zoning committee meetings and an open community meeting for this Tuesday, July 24th at Paul Revere Park in order to fully discuss the idea of affordable projects, as well as this particular affordable project.

We have since learned from the alderman that TIF funds are unavailable at the moment because they have been used for Clark Park, Coonley and Lakeview High School. Therefore, this affordable project cannot move forward and no other project is likely to be funded anytime soon.
The tenor of our communitys conversation on this topic has made NNA realize that we lack consensus on what to work towards in terms of a housing policy in our neighborhood. Therefore, we will be hosting a series of meetings across the next

several months to fully discuss and learn about housing issues

several months to fully discuss and learn about housing issues in our Ward, to listen to neighbors many values and opinions on the topic, and to facilitate neighbors development of a consensus strategic plan that prescribes housing policy for our neighborhood. If you have an opinion about housing in our neighborhood, this is for you, so join us!
Next Tuesday, July 24, 2012 we will begin this discussion with a meeting at Paul Revere Park at 7:00 to 8:30 pm. We have invited the Alderman to be a guest at the meeting, as well as our neighbor, Peter Skosey of the Metropolitan Planning Council. We hope you will join us for this informal, but important and timely discussion about housing values in Northcenter, and more generally, that you will join in the work to develop a strategic plan for housing. Moreover, we invite you to participate in NNAs Zoning and Social Justice Committees, which have been meeting for well over a year to tackle issues just like these. These Committees are made up of people who stated an interest in these issues, voluntarily joined the committees, and have attended meetings for over a year to develop plans and consider projects just like these. They are always looking for more ideas and hands, and so we hope that any residents with an interest in these issues will join them on these committees. Please contact us if you are interested. Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, July 24th, Paul Revere Park 7-8:30pm where we will begin visioning about housing opportunities in our neighborhood. Sincerely, Julie Hobert President, NNA