Mayor’s Office Tax Amendment Ordinance & Proposed Sustainable Manufacturing Ordinance | March 2021
The NAIOP Chicago Legislative Committee and Board of Directors have been tracking two pieces of legislation within the City of Chicago that could have tremendous negative effects on industrial development and other product types, particularly with regard to warehousing, wholesaling and freight movement. Read more details here.
The City has been moving very quickly in pushing these ordinances forward and our sources tell us that one will be subject to a vote on Monday, March 15th. While we would ideally like for the process to be slowed down to allow time for various stakeholder input, NAIOP Chicago is asking for your help by reaching out to your Alderman to ask that a Technical Committee be formed to amend the approved ordinance as needed.
Below is a letter that you can forward onto your Alderman. (See list of Alderman & contact info here) If you do send this along, please let us know so we can continue to loop you in at critical junctures as NAIOP Chicago continues to be on the frontlines of this fight.
Thank you for your support-
Steve Groetsema, Bridge Development Partners, LLC | NAIOP Chicago President
Bill Loftus, SPACECO, Inc. | NAIOP Chicago Legislative Chair
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EMAIL BOILERPLATE:
Dear Alderman _________,
I understand that there are various ordinances being proposed related to air quality issues in the City. I am a member of NAIOP, the nation’s leading trade association for developers, owners, investors, asset managers and other professionals in industrial, office and mixed-use commercial real estate. As a member I’m writing to say that while we are very much in support of clean air, there is great concern over the speed of which these ordinances are being pushed forward. We understand that an ordinance out of the Mayor’s office will be subject to a vote on Monday, March 15th. While we would ideally ask for a vote to temporarily be put on hold, to allow for various stakeholder input, we understand that may not be likely. If the ordinance is passed, we would ask that a Technical Committee be formed to amend the approved ordinance as needed.
Related to these ordinances, I’d like to share the concerns that NAIOP Chicago has raised about the following issues within the ordinance proposed by the Mayor’s office:
- Covers a wide scope of properties (existing and new properties of all sizes are required to comply)
- Lack of time noted in the ordinance for multiple City departments to respond when submitting the required application for a site plan approval
- Redundancy of the air quality monitoring proposed (says required by every site)
- Inability to trace the source of air pollution
- Lack of clear and properly quantifiable standards under which properties will be permitted and reviewed
Again, I’d like to reiterate that we are in support of clean air, however we think that there are key revisions that should be made within the currently proposed ordinance that would be beneficial to the City, residents and to the future growth of the City.
Respectfully,
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