Pedestrian Street zoning

A proposal to legalize transit-oriented development would make it easier to build walkable and bikeable neighborhoods, in part by halving the car parking requirement for residences and eliminating it for non-residential uses near train stations. The ordinance is set to go before aldermen at the zoning committee's next meeting in September. Right now, without the ordinance, launching a new business that complies with Chicago's parking minimums can be a ludicrous ordeal. Here's what two business owners in Logan Square had to go through to get around their parking minimums.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced an ordinance last Wednesday that would reduce some barriers to transit-oriented development in Chicago, lowering parking requirements and allowing more density near transit stations. While the proposal is a step forward, there's much more the city can do to ensure that future growth leads to more walking and transit use, not more traffic and congestion.

The Pedestrian Street, or P-Street, designation is a zoning tool to ensure that a street will remain safe and pleasant to walk on. It dictates, for example, that buildings should have have convenient pedestrian access and engaging ground floors, with human-scale entrances located on the main street, close to the sidewalk, and street-level windows.

"...the transportation profession is coming to understand that more roads, more lanes, and longer signal cycles only induces more traffic."

Alderman Proco "Joe" Moreno of the 1st Ward has introduced an ordinance that would zone Milwaukee Avenue between Sacramento Avenue and Rockwell Street/Francis Place as a Pedestrian Street, or P-Street, which could help ensure that future development is walkable and pedestrian-friendly.