* Crain’s…
Since Pritzker announced the Building Up Illinois Developments, or BUILD, initiative in his State of the State address in February, the leaders of some municipalities have been vocally objecting, saying the proposed rewrite of zoning at the state level will usurp traditional local control over such things as zoning for single-family homes and parking requirements. […]
“It mandates density, not affordability,” says Scott Wehrli, mayor of Naperville, third-largest city in Illinois, in a Facebook video. “It forces our city to allow six- and eight-unit buildings on lots zoned for single family homes.”
An average residential lot in his city of 153,000 is about a quarter of an acre, Wejrli says in the video, “and if this bill passes, the next time a home sells on your street, a developer can tear it down and replace it with eight market-rate units by right,” or without any request for a variance. […]
Timothy Baldermann, mayor of south suburban New Lenox, says in a Facebook reel taken from a village board meeting that Pritzker’s office sent him a communication enlisting his help in promoting BUILD. Instead, he spoke against the initiative because of “the damage this would do to the character of every community, how it would tie our hands.”
* Mayors from Sesser, Des Plaines, Lexington and Oak Park in the Tribune…
We are very different mayors from very different towns and from very different parts of Illinois — but we were all elected by our neighbors to ensure our communities can thrive and be where families put down roots. We take that responsibility seriously.
Over the years, we have watched the housing shortage deepen, home prices rise and more families get priced out of the communities they call home. The reality is simple: Too few homes are being built. Constrained by a patchwork of outdated zoning rules and overly complex approval processes, our current system limits supply and drives up costs. That is why we support Gov. JB Pritzker’s Building Up Illinois Developments, or BUILD, plan. It is designed to cut through these barriers and make it possible to build more homes in more places for more people — and our communities will be better off for it. […]
BUILD would mean more townhomes, two-flats, duplexes, cottages, bungalows — just regular types of houses that have historically formed the backbone of neighborhoods, made housing affordable and showcased the uniqueness of Illinois’ architecture. They are the homes that allowed working families, young people and seniors to live in communities they could afford. Somewhere along the way, these types of houses stopped being built. Regular, affordable houses have since become so rare that people think the only options are unattainable mega-mansions or luxury high-rise developments. It does not have to be this way.
BUILD would restore balance and establish a clear, statewide baseline that makes it possible to build regular types of housing in the first place. BUILD would establish minimum expectations and set a baseline to meet every locality’s housing needs, while preserving and enhancing the character of what makes each of our towns so unique. From there, we would retain control over how that housing fits in our communities through design standards, form and local context. We would still shape where housing goes, how buildings look and how development fits in our communities.
* WMBD….
With the legislative session ending May 31, Central Illinois State Senate Republicans are trying to find ways to give out some property tax relief.
Both of them aim to tackle Illinois high property taxes, which are considered the second highest in the nation according to Rocket Mortgage.
The challenge for some of these lawmakers is to give property tax relief while not cutting funds for public schools, fire protection districts, public libraries and more.
That’s where state Sen. Sally Turner’s bill comes in. Her proposal would increase the property value assessment for solar and wind farms. The Beason Republican said these properties paid low property tax rates in the early 2000’s because the business model hadn’t developed.
But in 2026, Turner said these businesses are well established and can afford to pay a higher property tax rate. She said if these properties were charged more, local governments would receive more money, giving them fewer reasons to raise property tax rates.
* WGLT…
Republican state Sen. Chris Balkema, representing a large rural area between Bloomington-Normal and Interstate 80, introduced a bill allowing access to online property tax assessment rolls.
“Currently, there’s a requirement that all of the property tax assessment rolls get published in newspapers. No option to do online,“ Balkema said.
He said this would not be an unfunded mandate because it just gives the option to a local government to decide if they want to publish assessments online.
Balkema also introduced a bill making it easier for seniors to access homestead exemptions that lower their tax burden.
“A person who hits the age of 65 to qualify for the senior citizens homestead exemption act to not have to go back to the courthouse or to the assessor, wherever the assessor is, and prove that they didn’t get younger every year,” Balkema said.
* Center Square…
Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Collinsville, is the sponsor of House Bill 4767, which would create new requirements for banks and credit unions to report potential financial exploitation of elderly and disabled adults.
Reports under the legislation would be sent to the Illinois Department on Aging, the agency behind the bill. […]
Stuart said after a long negotiation process, she was able to add language to the bill that accounted for their concerns about who on staff would be responsible for reporting potential fraud.
Despite the negotiations, bank and credit union groups still oppose the bill over the new requirements that would be imposed on their operations.
* Tribune…
Senate Democrats on Wednesday outlined a range of proposals, including for education, consumer protection and data privacy, that could serve as guardrails to the technology. Republican lawmakers, as they have during previous AI debates in the Democratic-controlled legislature, cautioned that such measures could hinder innovation. […]
One bill from state Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, a Democrat from Grayslake, would require AI developers such as ChatGPT to file “an independent third-party” annual report with the state detailing how they would mitigate “catastrophic risks, provide transparency reports and report critical safety incidents,” she said. Companies would have 72 hours to report such incidents after learning of them or 24 hours if the incident poses “an imminent risk of death or serious physical harm,” she said.
“This is not about stopping innovation, but rather about balancing the great promise of AI with its potential harms. This bill would simply require large AI developers to provide transparency and undergo independent third-party audits to honor whistleblower protections,” Edly-Allen said. “Sounds like common sense to me.”
OpenAI expressed support for the bill in a prepared statement, saying, “as AI systems become more powerful, clear rules around safety, transparency, incident reporting, and accountability are increasingly important.” The company said while the U.S. should ultimately adopt national standards, “state efforts like this one in Illinois — alongside legislation already in place in California and New York — are helping to create a de facto nationwide approach.”
* Subscribers know more. Center Square…
The Illinois Senate has approved legislation to regulate auto insurance rates, but a former Illinois Department of Insurance director says the proposal will result in higher premiums.
After adding a second amendment to Senate Bill 714 on Wednesday, state Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, said his legislation prohibits auto insurance rates from being excessive or discriminatory.
The Illinois Secretary of State’s office expressed support for the bill at a Senate Insurance Committee hearing on Tuesday.
Amy Williams, senior legal advisor at the secretary’s office, said more than 630,000 Illinoisans per year are driving without auto insurance required by law.
* Jim Dey…
Calling it “wrong” to re-name Memorial Stadium after a generous donor, a state legislator from Woodstock has filed a resolution in the Illinois House seeking to drop Larry Gies’ last name from the 100-plus-year-old landmark.
“There are other more appropriate ways for the university to acknowledge such a generous gift and still keep what Memorial Stadium was originally built to stand for,” said Republican state Rep. Steve Reick.
Reick’s resolution — HR 0895 — was introduced Wednesday and, so far, has attracted 11 co-sponsors. He characterized the measure as a “request” to University of Illinois President Tim Killeen, UI trustees, athletic director Josh Whitman and the Gies family. […]
Reick said he would have preferred not to draw public attention to the issue. But he said he spoke to Killeen and UI trustees earlier this year and found they had “no appetite to make a change.”
* More…
* WAND | IL Senate passes homeowner insurance reform, sends bill to House: The proposal could ban insurance companies from increasing homeowner insurance premiums by more than 10% without notifying consumers 60 days prior. Sponsors said this change could allow customers to look for cheaper options with another provider. This plan also prohibits homeowner insurance premiums from being excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory. House Bill 4273 bans insurance companies from shifting the cost of losses or high claim payouts in other states to Illinois homeowners as well.
* Capitol City Now | Proposals could bring AI out of ‘the wild, wild West’: An emailed statement, attributed to OpenAI vice president of global policy Ann O’Leary, says “OpenAI supports the Illinois legislature’s efforts to advance frontier AI safety through SB 315. As AI systems become more powerful, clear rules around safety, transparency, incident reporting, and accountability are increasingly important. We believe the U.S. should ultimately have national standards for frontier AI safety, but in the absence of federal action, state efforts like this one in Illinois — alongside legislation already in place in California and New York — are helping to create a de facto nationwide approach.”
* Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter | Bears-related megaprojects bill is worse than Richard M. Daley’s parking meter deal: Instead of learning from that lesson, Gov. JB Pritzker is pushing to repeat it. Imagine taking the rotten parking meter deal statewide. What’s been presented to all of us as a last-ditch effort to keep the McCaskeys, majority owners of the Bears, from moving the team across the state line is actually a tax rewrite that would include any major development in the state over $100 million. That includes rail lines in Granite City, new warehouses built by Jeff Bezos’ Amazon, a stadium for the Red Stars or another team, and any new corporate headquarters, whether in Chicago or a suburb.
* Press release | Villanueva leads measure to strengthen identity protections for youth in state’s care: House Bill 4966, also known as the SECURE Act, would enshrine enforceable standards of conduct for DCFS staff and caregivers of youth in care and ensure children, especially LGBTQ+ youth, receive the same services if placed out of state as they would in Illinois. Under Villanueva’s proposal, the department would be required to protect youth in care from unnecessary and unapproved disclosure of their sensitive identity information, including personal data that is linked or reasonably linkable to a child and identifies the child’s sexual orientation. It would also create a process for DCFS to abide by if it discloses sensitive identity information and would require the department to provide notice to the youth.
* Press release | Stadelman leads legislation that protects ticket buyers: Senate Bill 318 would create the Prohibition on Bots Purchasing Tickets Act to prohibit the use of bots, multiple accounts or email addresses to circumvent posted ticket purchasing limits during online ticket sales. The legislation would also prohibit ticket resellers from falsely representing that they are affiliated with an artist, team, venue or event organizer in a way that could mislead consumers. […] Senate Bill 318 – which is part of the Senate’s AI protection package – passed the Senate Executive Committee Wednesday.
For more press releases on legislation and other matters, click here.
- Will Stephens - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 10:21 am:
If I understand the BUILD proposal correctly, (and I am more than willing to be corrected) the biggest problem is that BUILD it will take away very important processes that allow people to express themselves before development occurs next door. The opinion piece above says homes are in part not being built because communities are “Constrained by a patchwork of outdated zoning rules and overly complex approval processes.”
.
I would argue that simply getting a variance from a local Zoning Board of Appeals, which allows residents adjacent to a development an opportunity to express themselves is neither an “outdated concept” or “overly complex.”
.
The variance process also gives time for local governments to better understand who the people are behind developments. Not all developers are created equal. In small towns we don’t have large staffs in our planning and zoning offices. We need the review process in order to slow things down and make sure that developers have a track record that is credible and not problematic. Our zoning rules help make this possible.
.
I respect Governor Pritzker, and give him credit for helping to get Illinois back to paying its bills on time, and for investing in Illinois Infrastructure. I think there is a need to tweak things in Illinois to help spur home building in the “missing middle” price range. However, I think the BUILD plan goes too far and the IML counter proposal needs to be given legitimate consideration.
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 10:23 am:
===“It forces our city to allow six- and eight-unit buildings on lots zoned for single family homes.”===
Yes, that’s the point. You and your fellow city government types have failed to address housing by allowing people to build housing. Your zoning decisions have prevented the ability to build housing.
Congratulations! You understand the problem you’ve created and perpetuate.
===and if this bill passes, the next time a home sells on your street, a developer can tear it down and replace it with eight market-rate units by right===
Please finish the thought. Why do you think this is bad? Is it about race? Is it about keeping “low income people” out of those neighborhoods? It is about denying “low income people” access to the schools that neighborhood serves?
Lets hear about why you think this is a bad thing and I can show you a bunch of vacant lots in cities and towns across the state where no one is going to build a single family home but someone might build a multi unit building by the local government will never approve that zoning variance because the people living there don’t want a multi unit house there.
Please, though, say the quiet part out loud.
- fs - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 10:24 am:
Naperville is on pace this decade to have the fewest number of housing units built since ww2. When you don’t add to housing stock, two big things happen: the cost of buying and renting increases, and property taxes skyrocket with the levy increasing without corresponding growth to help diaperse it. You’re a major part of the problem, Mayor.
New Lenox is over 90% owner occupied, with over 80% single family detached. This limitation on multi unit increases costs to live not just in New Lenox, but every other nearby community as well by pushing demand onto them and limiting their supply. You, too, are part of the problem, Mayor.
Nimby mayors and towns like these, who discourage development these days, that hurts both affordability and property taxes, are exactly why “local control” needs reigned in.
- Demoralized - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 10:27 am:
==he spoke against the initiative==
It’s fine to be against this particular initiative. But those who oppose it are offering no alternative solutions to the housing crisis. There is a crisis. Whatever you pretend you’re doing about it isn’t working. If you don’t like this plan then what are you going to do to solve the crisis other than complain that someone is taking power away from you?
- Joseph M - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 10:28 am:
“An average residential lot in his city of 153,000 is about a quarter of an acre, Wejrli says in the video, “and if this bill passes, the next time a home sells on your street, a developer can tear it down and replace it with eight market-rate units by right,” or without any request for a variance. […]”
That sounds great to me. Much better than the status quo.
Example: one of my family members lives in a western suburb within a couple blocks of a Metra station. Their house was next to a starter home that was recently torn down by the neighbor on the other side, who wanted to expand their McMansion and add a pool. Meanwhile, if my family member wanted to add an ADU, they were told by the village that it would require them to attend FOUR separate village meetings to beg for a zoning exception in addition to a $1,000 fee (not including attorney fees). It’s a downward ratchet - you can destroy starter homes and legacy apartments by right, but building one up requires far more effort.
I’m not waiting for each of Illinois’ 1,294 municipalities to pull their weight and allow more housing. Pass the BUILD package and end the micromanagement to help out families like mine.
Sincerely, a 27 year old whose fiancee doesn’t want to start a family until we become homeowners.
- DS - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 10:43 am:
Don’t threaten me with a good time Mayor Wehrli.
- Think Again - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 10:47 am:
=Yes, that’s the point. You and your fellow city government types have failed to address housing by allowing people to build housing. Your zoning decisions have prevented the ability to build housing=
Local control and all that - if the voters in any given town feel so compelled, they are free to push trustees to pursue zoning regulations found in the BUILD, initiative, or they can vote out the trustees that oppose them - simple
- fs - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 10:47 am:
== I would argue that simply getting a variance==
This variance process is neither “simple” nor short. And it definitely isn’t cheap in terms of time and legal battles. It’s many times arbitrary and used by many of these communities to stall developments long enough to discourage or outright kill them. Not to mention the lawsuits that the delays (I’m sorry, “process”) can spur. All of this adds to costs for a person to build a home on land that they own. But our current system nearly equal rights to everyone else in town as to what housing I can build on my property as it does to me (there’s a word to describe that, ends with “ism” that I thought these mayors hated). Our system makes it easier to tear down an house to build a pool than it does to tear out a pool and build a home. And then everyone complains about property taxes increasing…while they push back against one of the big tools that can keep taxes lower: housing development.
- fs - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 10:57 am:
== the IML counter proposal needs to be given legitimate consideration.==
That “proposal” is essentially asking to put into statute a long list of things that municipalities can actually already do with their existing authority, but refuse to do. Listing a bunch of optional things that you already have the option to do, but haven’t done, is you telling on yourself that you’re the problem.
- Annon'in - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 10:57 am:
THis was a pretty good shot
“Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter | Bears-related megaprojects bill is worse than Richard M. Daley’s parking meter deal:”
and
clearly the LRB should shut down to protect GOPies from attacks Tiny Caucus Delusion Syndrome with Turner hike of taxes on business the Reick attack on U of IL… we are guessin’ his season ticket plan lapsed.
- Jibba - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 11:05 am:
Those who defend BUILD continue to deny the chaotic and disruptive redevelopment that allowing an 8-plex on a lot in a single family home neighborhood would cause. It is a maximalist approach. Those who oppose BUILD deny that additional building is needed. There is a middle ground…allow duplexes by right, not 4 or 8 plexes. See how it proceeds for a few years, then change if needed.
- Jerry - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 11:07 am:
The problem with property tax relief is that it is tied to a privately owned, for profit corporation that wants to build a TV studio that is only open 10 days a year…on land they own. De-couple this from this welfare grabbing enterprise please.
- Google is Your Friend - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 11:09 am:
Here’s the truth about how communities have been addressing the lack of housing. Champaign is championing 229 units in 8 projects since 2018 while Lake County is crowing about adding 100 homes. Just to keep up with current demand, there would need to be 227,000 units added statewide in the next five years. Whenever you hear a mayor or councilperson complain about something the state is doing on tax policy or regulation, ask them why are they holding back their town? You can’t have workers live in housing that doesn’t exist and only data centers will locate in a place with no people. Insular, myopic mayors and city councils are holding back the growth of Illinois.
https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/news/illinois-cities-push-back-state-proposal-usurp-local-zoning/819849/
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 11:13 am:
===Local control and all that ===
This ain’t building hog lots and garbage dumps and the history behind this kind of zoning is a lot more unpleasant than rules about where a bar can be built.
Look at New Lenox’s demographics and ask yourself what kind of “character” they’re trying to protect.
- Will Stephens - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 11:17 am:
This variance process is neither “simple” nor short.
Maybe it isn’t simple in the Suburbs, but in My small town your variance request would be heard within 30-60 days and you would have your answer. That answer would be driven by the feedback of the surrounding property owners who I think deserve to have a voice. People should have a right to protect their investment, and there is no doubt that building an 8 plex in a Single Family Residential neighborhood damages the property values of adjacent properties. I suppose as long as it is someone else’s ox being gored it’s easy to be easy breezy and high minded about it.
- David BW - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 11:19 am:
Amy Williams is right.
- sulla - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 11:22 am:
Jibba - good thought. A logical compromise point.
- Candy Dogood - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 11:35 am:
===THis was a pretty good shot===
Every once and a while I think we should auction off naming rights for Daley Plaza for one year and have the public auction occur on the anniversary of when Richard M Daley finalized that deal. I understand that it is named for the other Daley, but I think that would be a fun way to remember the legacy of the Daley family’s poor performance as mayors.
- Felix - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 11:39 am:
You know what else would have been the worst deal since the parking meter give-away? The CTU/Brandon Johnson backed plan to give $2.4 billion in direct state funding to build a stadium for the Bears in the Soldier Field parking lot.
After SD-G publicly cheerleading for that boondoggle the CTU surrender any credibility they might have on the stadium issue. They should sit a few plays out.
- Blue Dog - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 11:42 am:
sewar and waterline are generally sized to the lot density at the time they are installed. as we know infrastructure is grossly expensive. Who will be on the hook if existing infrastructure isn’t adequate.
- Leatherneck - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 12:13 pm:
=Calling it “wrong” to re-name Memorial Stadium after a generous donor, a state legislator from Woodstock has filed a resolution in the Illinois House seeking to drop Larry Gies’ last name from the 100-plus-year-old landmark.=
HR 895 needs to be further amended to drop the name “State Farm Center” from the Assembly Hall.
And to designate that only ISU is allowed to name anything after “State Farm.”
- Jack in Chatham - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 12:15 pm:
Blue Dog has a point and the reason Zoning needs to remain local. Electric, Gas, Water, Sewer and roads are issues. Allowing developers to go in and buy a couple small home to put up apartment buildings can create a number of problems if not thought out beforehand. Sewage backup is an unpleasant experience.
- JustMe - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 12:19 pm:
=== “and if this bill passes, the next time a home sells on your street, a developer can tear it down and replace it with eight market-rate units by right,”===
I already supported the bill, you don’t have to sell me harder.
- Consider this - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 12:32 pm:
Senator Sally Turners proposal to increase property value assessment and , in turn, increased property taxes on solar farms is short on closing loopholes.
There is a private school in Decatur that owns tax exempt acreage around the school and presently farms it with alternating crops. Proceeds are donated to the Church.
They plan on taking this acreage out of crop production and installing a large solar farm in partnership with Ameren. Proceeds donated to the Church.
Other entities are watching this closely for their own future plans.
Questions as to the tax exempt status of the property or its proceeds are unclear.
- Excitable Boy - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 12:54 pm:
- sewar and waterline are generally sized to the lot density at the time they are installed. as we know infrastructure is grossly expensive. -
Where does anyone say that the impact of these developments won’t be evaluated? There is an entire bill dedicated to impacts, try reading it.
- Bigtwich - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 1:17 pm:
Google maps satellite view makes a good argument for BUILD.
- Illiana - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 1:31 pm:
To Consider this’ scenario/question: I’ve recently learned that there is essentially two types of property taxes that go into renewable projects. There is a land tax that is usually paid by the landowner and then there is a structure tax paid by solar or wind company. It appears this bill only impacts the structure assessment, so it is probable that the private school could continue to get their exemption and Ameren would have to pay the so-called structure tax. The proceeds aspect you mention is interesting and I personally wonder if it could impact the current exemption.
- Hmmmm - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 1:37 pm:
==It’s a downward ratchet - you can destroy starter homes and legacy apartments by right, but building one up requires far more effort.==
This is the problem in a nutshell. I scream internally every time I see wealthy homeowners in Chicago buy and tear down their neighbors’ homes to expand their own lot/yard, without so much as a eyebrow raised from the alderman. Housing becomes more scarce, and my rent keeps going up.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 7:40 pm:
In all the positions CTU took, this is up there in dumbest ones.
Let’s tax our way to poverty. Way to go.
- Blue Dog - Thursday, May 14, 26 @ 9:39 pm:
excitable boy. I took your advice and just read the bill. not as sharp as I once was but I couldn’t find where my concerns were addressed. could you point them out. I’m sure I just missed those sections. thanks