Table of Contents

Group Housing

The city's zoning code defines community living facilities for services-dependent populations and establishes three categories: Category I (CLF1) is for permanent placement of up to 4 dependent residents plus two live-in staff; Category II (CLF2) is for permanent placement of up to 8 dependent residents plus 2 or more live-in staff; and Category III (CLF3) is for temporary or permanent placement of up to 16 dependent residents plus staff (§37-17). Category I and II community living facilities are permitted uses in all residential districts, while Category III CLFs are provisional uses in all residential districts subject to a 1,000 distancing requirement from other Category III CLFs (§37-47.3 et seq.).

Parking standards require 2 spaces per CLF facility (§37-359.2).

Housing Supply Planning

The city's zoning code encourages group housing and eliminates some residential off-street parking requirements, which helps make housing more affordable and provides more options. The code also aims to preserve and expand the supply of adequate, safe, and sanitary housing through the preservation of older housing (§37-452). 

Rethinking Off-Street Parking Requirements

The city’s zoning code includes multiple types of policy-driven off-street parking requirements. It exempts multifamily dwellings in a district near the University of Illinois campus and all nonresidential and most residential uses in the central business district from minimum off-street parking requirements (§37-358). It also reduces parking requirements for elderly housing (§37-358(e)). It includes parking reductions for shared parking facilities based on the mix of uses (§37-357).

Food Systems | Urban Livestock

The city code's animal title was amended in 2013 to allow for the keeping of up to 6 hens on single-family and two-family dwelling parcels (§7-19). The ordinance addresses care and housing, sanitation and safety.  A $25 annual coop license is required.

A city website summarizes the backyard chicken regulations and provides a link to the urban chicken permit application.