Planning agency revises rules for public input

Changes will give Chicagoans advance notice of hearings that involve major developments.

SHARE Planning agency revises rules for public input
Plan Commission Chairman Teresa Cordova

Plan Commission Chairman Teresa Cordova

Sun-Times Media

The Chicago Plan Commission — a mayoral-appointed agency founded 111 years ago to provide citizen reviews of major developments — is giving the public more notice of its business.

In changes announced Thursday, the commission said it will begin posting Planned Development, or PD, applications at least 15 days before their public hearing. The applications currently are viewable on the City Clerk’s website for legislation, but can be hard to find.

PDs are zoning changes for large-scale projects. The commission has to vote for or against a PD before the proposal goes to the City Council.

Also, developers’ presentation materials for each PD will be posted at least three business days before the hearing. The materials currently are unavailable before the hearing.

The changes are part of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s initiative to improve government transparency, said officials at the Department of Planning and Development. Departmental staff assist the plan commission.

Lightfoot said the changes will allow for more public input, “ensuring future development is conducted through an open and transparent process.”

Plan Commission Chairman Teresa Cordova said the changes will help residents who might have to take time from work to attend a hearing. Commission meetings typically start at 10 a.m. the third Thursday of the month in the City Council chambers.

Also, the agency said a dedicated email address — CPC@cityofchicago.org — will accept written public comments up to 24 hours before a hearing. The comments will be shared with plan commission members.

The Latest
The man was shot in the left eye area in the 5700 block of South Christiana Avenue on the city’s Southwest Side.
Most women who seek abortions are women of color, especially Black women. Restricting access to mifepristone, as a case now before the Supreme Court seeks to do, would worsen racial health disparities.
The Bears have spent months studying the draft. They’ll spend the next one plotting what could happen.
Woman is getting anxious about how often she has to host her husband’s hunting buddy and his wife, who don’t contribute at all to mealtimes.
He launched a campaign against a proposed neo-Nazis march at a time the suburb was home to many Holocaust survivors. His rabbi at Skokie Central Congregation urged Jews to ignore the Nazis. “I jumped up and said, ‘No, Rabbi. We will not stay home and close the windows.’ ”