Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
The very next day a zoning lawyer sent letters to Bucktown residents letting them know of a zoning-change proposal that, if passed by the City Council, would allow a developer to build an eight-story, 51-unit mixed-use condo complex with 248 parking spaces on the 1600 North block of Milwaukee, just north of the Coyote Building. The condo complex would be one of the tallest buildings in the area and, as word spreads, residents are up in arms.
For his part, Michael Moran, cofounder of Preservation Chicago, doubts that the letter’s timing was coincidental. “I believe they purposefully waited until after the election,” says Moran. “If the zoning change surfaces before the election, it’s going to be a big issue and Matlak has to take a stand.”
There’s at at least one council zoning committee and one full City Council meetings before Waguespack gets sworn in on May 21. After Matlack won, Waguespack told reporters “we took out the machine.” In the next few weeks, we’ll see if the machine gets in one last jab.
