NORBIC working to reduce negative impact of Chicago Landscape Ordinance

By Brian O’Malley
Coordinator NORBIC Industrial Development
The Chicago Landscape Ordinance requires ornamental fencing and greening in parking lots of many facilities, including industrial. The intent of the ordinance, which was passed by the City Council in 1999, is to improve aesthetics and to reduce the “urban heat island” effect which raises summertime temperature highs in built-up areas with little or no vegetation.
In December NORBIC participated in a series of meetings at City Hall to ask for changes to the ordinance. While agreeing with the spirit of the landscaping requirements, NORBIC and other business advocates are concerned about the unintended negative impact that the details of the ordinance will have on parking, plant expansions and the reuse of underutilized industrial buildings.
Fences, setbacks and islands
Everyone will be affected by the landscape ordinance soon. Businesses will need to comply with at least one item in the landscape ordinance: any existing parking lot with more than four spaces will have to add ornamental (i.e. wrought iron) fencing along public streets, but not alleys, by 2006. Lots with more than 100 spaces must comply by 2004.
But ornamental fencing is just one aspect of the landscaping requirements. Businesses that make improvements to their building or change the configuration of their parking lot may be required to comply with not only the ornamental fencing requirement but also the other aspects of the landscaping requirements including seven-foot landscaped setbacks along the perimeter of parking areas, internal landscaped islands and tree plantings. For example, if a property owner makes improvements to a parking lot that would increase the number of spaces, the full set of landscaping requirements kicks in.
The “triggers,” actions by a property owner that induce the full set of landscaping requirements, came under scrutiny at the series of City Hall meetings in December at which NORBIC, other industrial councils, and business owners worked with city officials to address concerns over the ordinance’s impacts on industrial businesses.
City Hall works with business community
“Chicago doesn’t measure its heat waves in degrees, it measures them in the number of deaths,” said a city official to clarify the gravity of the urban heat island issue; that is, the landscape ordinance is intended not only to beautify Chicago but also to save lives each summer by actually lowering temperatures. Twenty people sat around a large conference table in City Hall; representatives from industrial councils, businesses (including NORBIC members Flow Products and S&C Electric), the Chicago Department of Planning and Development, the Mayor’s Office, the Zoning Department and Ald. William Banks (36th), chair of the Committee on Zoning.
It was Ald. Banks who convened the group when business representatives brought concerns about the landscape ordinance to his attention. He said that protecting and strengthening industrial corridors is a priority and agreed to see what could be done to make sure that the landscape ordinance would not render them functionally obsolete.
Concerns addressed
Scarcity of parking is already an issue in most industrial corridors. When seven-foot setbacks and internal planting islands reduce the area of a parking lot available for vehicles, it will compound the parking problem on adjacent streets. Moreover, the loss of parking and dollar cost of the landscaping requirements may act as a disincentive for businesses to improve their properties. The crux of the issue is determining what triggers the landscaping requirements.
As a result of these December meetings, city officials are reviewing the “triggers” and considering rewriting the ordinance. Their findings, more details of the ordinance and recommendations for compliance will be reported in February.
NORBIC is an economic development organization that promotes job growth and community advancement through the provision of professional and technical services to Illinois businesses. For more information about NORBIC, call (773) 594-9292.