The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning [CMAP], the organization that assisted in the development of the city’s comprehensive plan, will collaborate with the city to review the city’s current downtown zoning ordinances. Under CMAP's Local Technical Assistance (LTA) program, the collaboration will assist the City with a plan to identify the potential areas for rezoning in the downtown area that will align development with the long-term vision of the comprehensive plan.
“It was a significant accomplishment to finish the comprehensive plan, and now that it is in place, it’s time to update our zoning to match that long-term plan for the city,” Mayor Gonzalez said. “Our partnership with CMAP provides us with technical assistance and grant funds to review zoning in the downtown area.”
The new zoning will bring about changes to the way some Chicago Heights properties are marketed to outside developers, allowing for a wider range of future possibilities, according to the City’s Economic Development Consultant Jack Hynes.
“One of the things the comprehensive plan suggests is mixed-use zoning,” Hynes said. “For example, some of the areas that are currently zoned for commercial might be rezoned as mixed-use areas which could expand our development potential.”