# Proactive upzoning in Chicago Starting with Western Avenue in July 2024, some wards are upzoning segments of streets. Upzoning means changing a zoning district in part of the city to a different one that allows more bulk and density and housing. Before these upzonings are reflected in a future official zoning map, Chicago Cityscape has created an alternative map for the proposed upzoned areas. Tip: [Read this Streetsblog Chicago article](https://chi.streetsblog.org/2024/05/29/in-the-zone-alders-propose-changing-western-avenue-rules-to-allow-more-housing-along-potential-bus-rapid-transit-corridor) to learn more about the reason behind proactive upzoning Our alternative map also has unofficial upzones in areas around CTA and Metra stations, purely for the purposes of assessing the potential impact in the number of additional homes that could be built if the areas around these rail stations were upzoned. ## Where has proactive upzoning been implemented? Proactive upzoning has been done in the following wards: - 6th Ward (Missing Middle Infill Housing Initiative) - 7th Ward (Missing Middle Infill Housing Initiative) - 21st Ward (Missing Middle Infill Housing Initiative) - 11th Ward (35th Street between Seeley and Ashland) - 12th Ward (35th Street between Seeley and Ashland) - 35th Ward (Milwaukee Avenue) - 40th Ward (Western Avenue) - 46th Ward (Broadway) - 47th Ward (Western Avenue, Broadway) - 48th Ward (Broadway) - 49th Ward (Western Avenue, Howard Street) When other wards adopt proactive upzoning we will update our map and list those Place Reports. - As of July 29, 2024, the 11th and 12th Wards will propose a proactive upzoning on 35th Street between Ashland Ave and Archer Ave to B3-2; however, since the alderpersons are proposing a kind of opt-in for certain property owners Chicago Cityscape will wait until the ordinance is introduced before adding this segment to the map. - In December 2024, the 46th, 47th, and 48th Wards proposed a proactive upzoning on Broadway from Montrose Ave to Devon Ave, from many various existing zoning districts to B3-3, B3-5, and C1-5. View the [Broadway custom Place Report](http://chicagocityscape.com/place/custom-chicago-broadway-proactive-upzoning) (from Montrose Ave to Devon Ave). - The Missing Middle Infill Housing Initiative upzoned hundreds of properties in South Chicago, Morgan Park, and Chatham, in the 6th, 7th, and 21st Wards. The ordinances were introduced in April 2025 and adopted in May 2025. Proactive upzoning calculations may not be shown for properties that are condos (with a property classification of 2-99) nor for properties in Planned Developments. ## Filtering for proactive upzoning areas Proactive upzoning in Property Finder will cause two additional columns to appear: - **Zoning (proactive)**. This value indicates the zoning district that is used to calculate a future zoning capacity. - **Units allowed (proactive)**. This value indicates the number of dwelling units allowed on the property in the given table row if the proactive zoning was in place. ![[Pasted image 20240726170009.png]] ### Find properties on a proactively-upzoned block Property Finder has a filter to show properties on a proactively-upzoned block to demonstrate where new development opportunities are unlocked and to highlight areas that may be subject to the ARO (depending on the size of new development).  ### Tip: Exclude tax exempt properties We recommend *adding* the "Not tax exempt" filter to further eliminate undevelopable properties (like parks and schools). This will also exclude developable properties owned by places of worship and city-owned properties (which mostly comprises vacant lots, but some parking lots as well). # Related articles - [[Housing calculator]] - [[Zoning Assessment]]