A newly formed Skokie sub-committee could assist the village in increasing affordable housing by allowing more housing to be built and analyzing Skokie’s housing needs.
The village’s Housing Sub-Committee was stocked with new members in December and given new tasks at its first meeting on Jan. 2 at the Skokie Public Library. The village board will assign the sub-committee to make recommendations to allow accessory dwelling units. Commonly known as ADUs or in-law suites, they are typically smaller homes built on the same property as a single-family home
At its meeting, the sub-committee created two groups of three commissioners to take on projects laid out by the Village Board and the Plan Commission. The village’s Community Development Director, Johanna Nyden directed much of the meeting.
Nyden said there were no immediate deadlines for the projects, giving the volunteer commissioners as much time as they needed.
The first group, formed by commissioners Katherine Niedorowski, Paul Schroeckenstein, and Maegan Aekers, will focus on a housing needs assessment to identify and understand housing gaps and recommend policy. The second group, formed by commissioners Erin Ryan, Johnathan Lavin, and Ellen Weber, will focus on giving policy recommendations on best practices for ADUs in Skokie.
“We want this to be a very working group,” Nyden said. “We don’t want us to bring you all together to share information with you and then have you react to it. I think there’s a lot of subject matter experts here … these individuals will help some of the research and some of the thinking about how we would put these items together and not just have it be a staff lead process.”
The commissioners have experience in the housing and economic industries. Niedoroski is a Senior Manager of Partnerships and Programs at Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness; Schroeckenstein is a director at bKL Architecture; Aekers is Westfield Old Orchard’s new General Manager; Ryan is the CEO of Shore Community Services; Lavin is a retired CEO of AgeOptions; and Weber is a real estate agent.
In a September 2024 memo, Trustee James Johnson requested that Mayor George Van Dusen put ADUs on the agenda of a village board meeting where the board can consider allowing them by the end of 2024.
“They (ADUs) can serve as housing for caregivers, extended family members, or be leased to help bring new income to properties to keep homes affordable for property owners,” Johnson’s memo states.
“Approximately one-third of the land use in Skokie is devoted to single-family housing units, and the creation of new smaller housing units supports utilizing this land for new housing in a landlocked community,” Johnson wrote in the memo.
An Oct. 25 memo from the Village Manager’s Office said that the Housing Sub-Committee will be responsible for considering ADUs. The memo acknowledged Johnson’s requests.
The village board was scheduled to refer the matter to the Housing Sub-Committee on Jan. 6.
The village has been pursuing ADUs and conducting a housing needs assessment in Skokie for some time. In 2023, the village board tasked the village’s Plan Commission to come up with an affordable housing ordinance. Nyden also suggested a housing needs assessment and allowing ADUs, among other targets and goals.
Responding to why the Plan Commission did not move forward with those plans at the time, Nyden said in an email, “The Plan Commission provided a series of policy recommendations to the Village Board in 2023, the Village Board prioritized an inclusionary housing ordinance and the adoption of the housing chapter of the Comprehensive Plan.”
The village board approved an affordable housing ordinance in May 2024.
Nyden said the village had never placed an outright “ban” on ADUs, but that the village’s zoning code, parking requirements, and building codes have restricted the ability for homeowners to add an accessory unit.
In May 2023, the village board approved a temporary Housing Sub-Committee to report to the Plan Commission to assist the village in updating its Housing Chapter of the village’s Comprehensive Plan, which was written and approved some 20 years ago, according to Nyden. Per village documents, the updated housing chapter will guide the Housing Sub-Committee to make recommendations to the Plan Commission, which will then give recommendations to the village board.
