Southside resident complains about city zoning process

by Katie Przychodzen.

Sept. 3, 2008 – Southside resident Menjiwei Latham said she felt excluded from the process last week after a Chicago City Council committee approved a zoning change against her requests.

Latham, a retired elementary school teacher, said she met with Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) last spring to discuss the building going up next to her home in the 6800 block of South Lafayette Ave. She said she was assured by the alderman, as well as the developer, that the building would house only two units.

Months later, Latham said she noticed the structure going up next door was actually three stories tall, although the current zoning for the property did not allow for a three-unit structure.

So the developer, Perry & Perry, asked the council’s Committee on Zoning at its Aug. 26th meeting to change the ordinance to accommodate the building.

“I don’t think it’s fair to build something that doesn’t meet code and then come to you to make it meet code,” said Latham.

Zoning Committee Chairman William J.P. Banks responded: “It happens every day.”

Thomas Moore, the attorney for Perry & Perry, LLC, handed the chairman a letter of support from the alderman, who was not present at the meeting.

Minutes later, the zoning ordinance change passed unanimously.

“They were not forthright with me,” said Latham, after the committee vote. She said that she had no idea the alderman had written the letter of support.

Ald. Lyle, who was attending the Democratic National Convention in Denver, was not available for comment.

Damion Perry, president of Perry & Perry, LLC, the building’s developer, said he had always planned to build a three-unit structure. But when he started to build the third floor, he said, Latham started to raise questions and harass his employees.

“She would come out and yell at them about miscellaneous things,” he said. “It was more out of spite, because she [had] wanted to purchase the property.”

Latham said she considered buying the land next door, but Perry beat her to it. When Perry first purchased the property, Latham said she was happy because the building had been vacant for more than three years. But she wasn’t happy when the agreement she thought she had with Lyle vanished.

Moore, the developer’s attorney, said he understands Latham’s frustration, to a degree.

“It’s a primordial protection of the home, a kind of instinct,” he said. “People get emotional and a little wacky.”

Moore said that it was the support of Ald. Lyle that solidified the committee’s decision to side with the developer.

“Everyone wants to be a king in their own fiefdom,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of the time, if the alderman wants something, the committee will give it to them.”

The proposal is expected to be approved at the council’s next meeting Sept. 10.

Moore, who used to serve on the Zoning Board of Appeals, said the zoning change is more than likely a done deal.

“The city council always files the recommendation of the committee,” said Moore. “They don’t argue.”