Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a plan April 4 that aims at bringing new life to several of the city’s 26 industrial corridors.
The Mayor is launching a public review process focused on modernizing restrictive zoning in areas like the former A. Finkl & Sons Co. site in North Branch, where activity is slow and instead, create opportunities for tech, commercial, residential or retail development.
In a statement released Monday, the Mayor said the initiative is an effort to generate more jobs and investment in Chicago’s neighborhoods and increasing the city’s economic growth.
It will include a proposed fee on non-industrial developments in the industrial corridors, which is said to go toward two purposes–supporting industrial expansion and manufacturing jobs in proximity to neighborhoods that need support, and supporting area infrastructure improvements to corridors transitioning away from traditional industrial use.
Beginning this spring, the city and local aldermen will meet publicly with industrial business owners, property owners and other community stakeholders, to work on land use studies, looking specifically at corridors like North Branch, Pilsen, Little Village, and Roosevelt/Cicero.
