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Elmhurst mayor urges residents to oppose state BUILD housing bill, warns it would preempt local zoning
Summary
Mayor Levin warned April 20 that proposed state BUILD legislation would override home-rule zoning, allow multiunit development on typical Elmhurst lots, curb local parking and building requirements, and permit third-party plan reviewers and inspectors if municipalities miss statutory deadlines.
Mayor Levin used his report at the April 20 Elmhurst City Council meeting to alert residents to a package of proposed state housing bills he said would limit municipal control over zoning and building standards.
"It provides that a municipality shall... overrule home rule provisions on any lot located in zoning districts that has single-family dwellings," Levin said, describing the proposed BUILD legislation. He said the law, as drafted, would permit an eight-unit building on a 7,500-square-foot lot, prevent municipalities from imposing additional lot-size or setback rules for such projects, bar minimum automobile parking requirements for certain residential developments and remove some local building-code requirements, including allowing a single stairway to serve all units in a residential building.
Levin said the bill would also allow applicants to retain qualified third-party plan reviewers or inspectors at municipal cost if the city failed to finish plan review or inspections within deadlines set by the act. "So we kind of lose the control," he said, adding that the city could also be forced to follow a statewide building code rather than its own standards.
Levin framed the warning as a call to action and said he would send bill numbers and contact information for state representatives to the council and include the information in the city newsletter. He also voiced concern about the Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF), saying a change in distribution could cost Elmhurst an estimated $250,000.
Alderman Erby asked whether Levin had bill numbers; Levin said he would send them to the council. Alderman Nardini noted the city’s ongoing zoning-code rewrite and said the committee will continue its work regardless of state action. Alderman Brennan raised questions about parking implications if denser buildings were allowed in residential blocks; Levin said those are among the policy concerns local officials are trying to convey to state lawmakers.
Levin and other council members urged residents to contact state elected officials if they oppose the proposed changes. No formal council action or vote on the legislation occurred at the meeting.
