During its May 15th meeting, the Chicago Plan Commission will consider an application for the rezoning of 2235-49 W Oakdale that would allow for the construction of thirty-five luxury townhomes.
The proposal includes a two-car garage with every town home, potentially adding seventy personal vehicles to this site.
North Branch Works has engaged the developer as we are concerned about the impact of the rezoning on Century Plating Company, a thriving, multigenerational manufacturing business directly across the street from the project site, and Vosges Chocolates.
Century Plating Company provides fifty-five high-quality union jobs and has operated at this location since 1953 (2939 N Oakley Ave).
The business has contracts with high-profile automotive companies; some of its work is fulfilling large orders of the plating work required for seat belts.
The company operates its facility twenty-four hours and manages deliveries from large trucks multiple times a week.
Because the roads are narrow around the business, large semi-trucks have used part of an old driveway in front of the proposed development to make turns.
If this rezoning is approved, the City of Chicago must work with Century Plating Company and make accommodations so that it can continue operating and save its head-of-household jobs.
Industrial jobs on average pay $84,000 plus benefits and support many nearby small businesses.
The project site is also located close to Vosges Haut-Chocolat (2950 N Oakley Ave), a successful and growing manufacturer of premium chocolates. The company runs three shifts and provides fifty high-quality jobs.
You can find Vosges Chocolates in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and in major retailers such as Whole Foods.
Allowing the rezoning of 2235-49 W Oakdale near Voges Chocolates and Century Plating Company without supporting the existing businesses would put pressure on these companies to relocate.
We’ve seen many times that introducing incompatible land uses near manufacturing and industrial companies leads to residents complaining about businesses even though they chose to live near them.
And once you start chipping away at industrial areas by introducing residential land uses, it sends a signal to the businesses that cities are actively encouraging them to leave.
This proposal is under consideration at the same time as the city wants to attract new manufacturing companies and maintain existing ones through the Chicago Department of Planning and Development’s Local Industrial Retention Initiative.
We ask members of the Chicago Plan Commission and 32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack to vote against this project unless protections for the existing companies are put in place.
Image credit: SGW Architecture & Design
