The hearing for the proposed amendment to the Chicago Landmarks Ordinance regarding the landmarking of religious properties without owner consent has been set for Wednesday, April 27, at noon in Room 201-A, City Hall. The hearing will be held by the Committee on Historical Landmark Preservation, chaired by Ald. Arenda Troutman (20th).
In 1987, the Chicago City Council amended its local preservation ordinance to include an owner-consent requirement for the landmark designation of religious properties. Property-owner consent for other properties, however, is not required.
Since that time, only a few houses of worship have been designated as protected Chicago Landmarks. Today, only five percent of the city’s 217 individual landmarks are churches or synagogues. This is less than St. Louis, where 28 percent of its individual landmarks are religious properties, Cleveland (27 percent), Baltimore (25 percent), New Orleans and Omaha (14 percent), St. Paul (11 percent), Kansas City (9 percent), and New York (7 percent).
As development pressures in Chicago have recently increased, architecturally significant churches and synagogues are being demolished. In the past several years, at least a dozen religious properties listed in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey have been lost, including: Buena Park Presbyterian Church, 4247 N. Sheridan Rd.; North Shore Spanish Baptist Church, 4401 N. Hermitage Ave.; Congregation B.H.H. Synagogue, 4601 N. Lawndale Ave.; St. Leo’s Catholic Church, 7752 S. Emerald Ave.; and St. Ludmilla’s Catholic Church, 2400 S. Albany Ave.
In February, Ald. Burton Natarus (42nd) and eight other Chicago alderman introduced legislation that would eliminate the ordinance’s owner-consent provision for religious properties. A City Council hearing scheduled for March was postponed, based on a request by the Archdiocese of Chicago. This matter is now expected to be heard in early May.
The Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois (LPCI) strongly supports Ald. Natarus’ legislation, saying that this proposal does not violate any religious freedom laws. In addition, LPCI has surveyed jurisdictions nationwide and have found only two — Pittsburgh, PA, and Washington State — that have owner-consent requirements for religious properties.
Furthermore, in order to counter the argument that vacant churches pose an economic hardship on their owners, LPCI has identified dozens of religious properties throughout Illinois that have been sold and successfully converted to other uses in recent years, many of them for residential and institutional purposes.
The Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois can be reached at (312) 922-1742, ext. 229. |
