City Council Meeting July 22, 2020 Committee on Housing and Real Estate
ORDINANCE
WHEREAS, Under Article Vll, Section 6(a) ofthe 1970 Constitution ofthe State of Illinois, the City of Chicago is a home rule unit of local government with the power to regulate for the protection ofthe public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago received more than 16,900 applications for demolition permits between 2006 and 2019, including more than 10,400 applications for demolition permits between 2012 and 2019 (Chicago Data Portal); and
WHEREAS, Applications for demolition permits overwhelmingly appeared in highly developed Wards in the City of Chicago; and
WHEREAS, Between 2011 and 2019, the most applications for demolition permits were for proposed demolitions in the 32nd Ward (more than 900 demolition permits), 47th Ward (more than 600 demolition permits), and 1st Ward (more than 600 demolition permits); and
WHEREAS, Property sale data from State of Illinois tax declarations demonstrate that demolitions correlate with increased property sales, which places pressure on the development and preservation of affordable housing for residents of any and all income classifications; and
WHEREAS, Property sale data from State of Illinois tax declarations demonstrate that when a property is located more than a block away from a demolition its average sale price was approximately $270,000, while the average sale price of a property located within one block of a demolition was approximately $400,000; and
WHEREAS, Demolitions of existing property cause environmental concerns, including impact on landfills and unsustainable building practices; and
WHEREAS, The Chicago Climate Action Plan, issued by the City in 2008, notes that a 90 percent reduction in waste trucked to landfills could net a carbon dioxide emission drop of about 840,000 metric tons; and
WHEREAS, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found that "demolition represents more than 90 percent o...
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