Chicago zoning SFH to 2 flat

[Don James]

Hello all, I’ve been lurking on here for a bit but recently ran into an issue I can’t solve so I’m looking for any advice or feedback. Thanks in advance. I just bought a home in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It’s a double lot (6400 square feet) that had a 700 Square foot addition added around 1940. Bringing the total living space to around 3200 square feet. It’s currently zoned Rs-3 and is recognized as a SFH. I’d love to legally rezone it to a two flat and renovate the addition but after talking with the secretary at zoning downtown I thought I better post the question here first. A few other notes. My neighbors are a 12+ Unit condo building, 2 flat, 4 flat and an large apartment complex across the street. It feels like I should have a good case to make it a two flat but I have no experience with this. Has anyone dealt with this or have any ideas on where I should be headed next? Thanks again, Don

[Jeff Burdick]

Originally posted by @Don James:

Hello all, I’ve been lurking on here for a bit but recently ran into an issue I can’t solve so I’m looking for any advice or feedback. Thanks in advance.

I just bought a home in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It's a double lot (6400 square feet) that had a 700 Square foot addition added around 1940. Bringing the total living space to around 3200 square feet. It's currently zoned Rs-3 and is recognized as a SFH. I'd love to legally rezone it to a two flat and renovate the addition but after talking with the secretary at zoning downtown I thought I better post the question here first.

A few other notes. My neighbors are a 12+ Unit condo building, 2 flat, 4 flat and an large apartment complex across the street. It feels like I should have a good case to make it a two flat but I have no experience with this. Has anyone dealt with this or have any ideas on where I should be headed next? Thanks again, Don

 To my knowledge, zoning changes tend to be very alderman specific.  Some alderman are very flexible with it.  Some will never accept it.   Who is your alderman?