DuPage committee approves public hearing to create R‑3A and R‑4A zoning districts to enable two‑unit homes on county land

The DuPage County Development Committee voted to send proposed text amendments establishing two new residential zoning districts, R‑3A and R‑4A, to the DuPage County Zoning Board of Appeals for public hearing, with the aim of allowing up to two dwelling units on qualifying lots and easing the entitlement process on county‑owned parcels.

The vote begins a public process: the zoning board will hold hearings and any recommendation will return to the committee and the full county board for final approval. Paul, a county staff member, told the committee the amendments would not rezone private properties automatically; rather the county would create the placeholder districts and later seek rezoning for specific county‑owned parcels as part of a housing program that could include land banking and housing trusts.

Why it matters: Committee members said the change is intended to scale up housing supply on county‑owned, often blighted parcels, and to shorten entitlement steps for developers on those county parcels. Several members and residents voiced concern about fairness and potential impacts on adjacent private properties.

Details of the proposal and committee discussion

Paul said the text amendments would create R‑3A and R‑4A with land‑use and bulk regulations similar to existing R‑3 and R‑4 districts but allowing…