Naperville will not be offering developers incentives to increase the city’s affordable housing stock.
The Naperville City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday night to reject the inducements ordinance, which had been years in the making, by instead directing city staff to create an affordable housing catalog highlighting successful projects in the city to be supplied to any developer looking to build residential units in town.
“The truth here is this … is a vote to kill the affordable housing ordinance,” said Councilman Ian Holzhauer, who voted against the catalog proposal. “There’s window dressing on it. We’ll publish a catalog. Maybe it’ll be glossy, maybe we’ll have colored photos in it. But that is nothing like what has been discussed for the past five years.”
In response to looming concerns with the affordability of its housing supply, the city in 2019 hired consultant SB Friedman to analyze its housing market and project short- and long-term housing needs. They found that the city’s lack of affordable housing would only grow if it was not addressed.
To tackle concerns, Friedman in fall 2020 presented the city with a list of policy options it could implement. Elected officials, in turn, adopted a multiyear plan prioritizing recommendations.
Creating an incentive program was one facet of that plan, with a previous council originally agreeing to set up the program in January 2023. Since then, staff had been fleshing out an ordinance to formally adopt the initiative.
A finished draft went before the council at a meeting earlier this month. The ordinance sought to add a new chapter to the city’s zoning code to establish a series of allowances to offer to developers if units in their projects met certain affordability requirements.
Incentives ranged from leniency over masonry materials to flexibility with building height and parking limits, among several other variances.
The ordinance also would have offered developers incentives “by-right,” meaning that as long as no additional entitlements were required outside of those allotted through the incentive program, a project could be approved by city staff without needing to go to the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission or the council.
The ordinance’s by-right approach fed much of the hesitation for the majority that refused to back it. Concerns were raised that the by-right incentives would take away the council’s authority — and responsibility — to ensure appropriate projects were coming to the city.
“I think it’s our duty as a city council not to substitute a by-rights ordinance with our role as an elected body to make sure we do our job and get all projects right,” Mayor Scott Wehrli said. “That’s what we were elected for.”
Wehrli brought forward the idea of an affordable housing catalog as an alternative to approving the staff’s ordinance. That substitute motion is what passed Tuesday, effectively denying the original ordinance a vote.
The council opted for the catalog despite several residents and affordable housing advocates arguing in favor of the incentives.
“As the beautiful community that we are … let’s address this shortage of affordable housing,” Suzanne Thibeault, executive director of Naperville-based transitional housing program Families Helping Families, said. “We ask you to please vote yes on (the affordable housing incentive program).”
“Through (this program), Naperville can build hero housing, housing for emergency responders and teachers, firefighters and police officers,” said Naperville resident Trey Phillips, who identified himself as a member of the DuPage Housing Alliance and an Army veteran. “Housing for seniors and those with disabilities. Housing for North Central College students and graduates and, yes, even housing for veterans like me.”
Speaking after the meeting, Wehrli said he believed the approved catalog would still incentivize developers to incorporate affordable housing strategies into local projects. It will show that “affordable housing projects in Naperville have been successful … and highlight all of the things that those projects did and how we got them to where they are today.”
Example projects could include the Naperville Elderly Homes and Tower Court Residences, he said.
“We want to focus on those success stories and basically prove to other developers that you can do this,” he said.
The catalog idea itself is welcomed, Councilman Patrick Kelly said, also speaking after the meeting. But that doesn’t mean it’s an adequate replacement for the incentive program, he said.
“I thought the mayor’s idea was actually a good one,” Kelly said. “I’m happy that we passed it. I think that it will be a useful tool for developers and for city staff to bring to developers. And I think it may lead to successes that we’ve experienced already. I just don’t think it was a satisfactory alternative.”
Going into the meeting, Kelly said he planned to propose ordinance changes that he thought could alleviate some of council’s concerns. He wanted a caveat added that would have given council a degree of control over projects employing the incentive program, he said.
Despite the action taken, the possibility of an incentive program isn’t necessarily dead. A council member could resurrect the matter at a future meeting during new business. The only condition is 62 days must pass before it is broached again.
Asked if he’d considering bringing the issue back, Kelly said, “I think it’s very possible.”
“If we bring it back, I think the request would certainly be a revised version of the ordinance that was on the agenda tonight and with the revision being some form of council control. We would want to make it better.”
