GlenStar, the luxury developer at odds with 41st Ward alderman Anthony Napolitano over a proposed 299-unit apartment building near the Cumberland Blue Line, has sued the city in an attempt to secure the necessary zoning changes to proceed with construction. But buried in its demands that a judge find city officials’ actions regarding its proposed building unlawful is a major legal challenge to the age-old practice of “aldermanic prerogative.”
GlenStar’s attorney, Peter Friedman, explains that the developer played by both the formal and informal rules from the beginning. Though city code doesn’t require the approval or involvement of local aldermen or ward “zoning advisory committees” in development proposals, aldermanic prerogative is a well-established practice, and GlenStar is a well-established player in local real estate. The developer thus sought approval from Napolitano, who had already formally told the city he wanted an apartment building on the site. When GlenStar then bought the land, it said Napolitano promised his approval if the 41st Ward Zoning Advisory Council went along. GlenStar made presentations to the advisory committee and got unanimous approval in January 2017. In its complaint, the company contends that Napolitano subsequently again verbally “pledged his support directly to GlenStar.”
Ironically, last September, a resident of the 45th Ward sued the city over a proposed development near the Jefferson Park Blue Line, which is supported by alderman John Arena. That suit contends that Arena wielded aldermanic prerogative inappropriately because he didn’t cave to community pressure against the building.
“It is a pretty basic notion that all communities need to contribute to the city’s affordable housing needs,” Novara said in an interview. “And if that is our basic principle, then individual communities should not be able to opt out of that contribution.” An audit released by the city’s inspector general last year found that between 2007 and 2015, 57 of Chicago’s 77 community areas had created no new units of affordable housing.
Nevertheless, if the city doesn’t move to settle and the judge finds that the custom of aldermanic prerogative is unlawful, the case could have wide-ranging ramifications for planning and development in Chicago.
