VOCAL Neighbors

The myth of the one day permit turnaround.

One statistic that seems to get thrown about to assure people that landmarking won't constitute a bureaucratic hassle is that 70% of all permits get approved witin a single day. Really? That is not what the Municipal Code sections say. Here is the real drill:

1) NO permit for alteration, construction, "or other work" shall be issued to an applicant by any City department without the written approval of the Commission for any district which has been designated as a Chicago Landmark. 2-120-740. If the City gets a request for a permit has to forward the plans to the Commission within 7 days. It is a violation of the ordinance for an owner to perform, authorize or allow work or other acts requiring review without a permit. Id. What are the penalties for the violation? Not less than $500 for each offense, and if you altered your property too much without the Landmark Commission's approval? You get NO permits for your property at all approved for the next FIVE YEARS. 2-120-910. Oh, and the City reserves the right to force yo uto revert the property to its original condition before you did the work. Id.

But let's assume the process works as it should. You show up at City Hall to make a permit request, they get seven days just to send your request to the Landmarks commission. It is unlawful for that permit to issue without commission approval.

2) Commission gets your request. How quickly do they have to respond? Fifteen days to give you their "preliminary" opinion. 2-120-760. If they approve it, you have to meet not just their standards, and City standards, but also the Standards for Rehabiltation st forth by the US Secretary of the Interior, as published in 36 CFR 67. I checked, and the most relevant provision is 36 CFR 67.7, which has all the stuff in it about how you have to repair, not replace, and if you replace, it has to be the same type of materials as the old, etc. etc. That is where you get the requirement that you can't just fix a broken window, you have to replace it with the same type of window case, with individual windowpanes, of the identical size as your old window, etc. etc. You can get at it by: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/get-cfr.cgi.

3) What if the commission doesn't approve your request? Well, you get 10 days to request that you work things out informally, and they are supposed to hold the meeting within 15 days. 2-120-790.

So, we're already up to around 45 days, here, before we even get to the commission.

4) If your informal meeting doesn't go well? Wait 30 days. Then the Commission has to initiate a public hearing on your permit, to take place within 90 days. They have a further 30 days to come to their decision. 2-120-800.

So we are now at 6 months after your permit application date, and you are still not out of the Commission yet.

5) If they decide against you? Congratulations! You get to pay a $289 filing fee (and a lawyer) and go to Municipal Court of Cook County to file a legal complaint. 2-120-810. The City has 30 days to file an answer to your complaint. Tack on 60 days to get before a judge on a status conference, maybe another 60 days to brief the issues (if you are lucky), another 30-60 days or more for the judge to decide. You've gone over a year, with no resolution. And the City cannot issue you a permit unless you get the Commission's decision overturned.

Oh, and BTW, if you want to overturn the Commission's decision? You have to convince the judge that their decision was arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law. Their decision is presumed to be legally and factually correct.

Nah, no bureaucratic hassle at all. That is saved for the really big stuff, like demolitions and additions, where you have to get a vote from the whole City Council. 2-120-825.

Feeling tired yet?

Here's a link to the selected Landmark Ordinances fro mthe Municipal Code, if you want to check my cites.

http://www.cityofchicago.org/Landmarks/Ordinance.html

posted by The Grants @ 7:56 AM