Land Use and Zoning

Securing the government entitlements necessary to develop your project can be a highly complex process. You need attorneys with a deep understanding of the legal and political requirements for overcoming regulatory hurdles, securing expeditious approvals, obtaining financial incentives and winning public support. Our group includes partners with extensive experience winning government approvals for development projects throughout the City of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.

We represent both large and small private sector clients on a broad range of land use and zoning issues involving:

• Government financial incentives including:

• Tax Increment Financing (TIF)

• Business districts

• Sales tax sharing agreements

• Special Service Areas (SSAs) and special assessments

• Debt financing

• Annexations and annexation agreements

• Rezonings

• Special uses and variances

• Subdivision approvals

• Planned developments

• Development agreements

• Wetlands regulations

• Covenants and restrictions

• Impact fees and exactions

• Eminent domain

• Historic preservation

• Solid waste facility siting

We regularly appear before boards and commissions in legislative, administrative and quasi-judicial hearings as well as in litigation involving land use and zoning issues. The Land Use and Zoning Group also specializes in unique and often controversial land use issues such as landfills, waste transfer stations, power plants and telecommunications tower sitings.

Representative Matters

Major engagements that members of the Land Use and Zoning Group have recently handled include:

Commercial:

  • Redevelopment of Union Station and the Schubert Theater in Chicago.
  • Approval of TIF financing and other economic incentives in Chicago, Palatine, Bolingbrook, DuPage County, Mundelein, Crestwood, Hainesville, Romeoville and Huntley, Illinois.
  • Land use and zoning approvals for “big box”-anchored retail centers in North Aurora, Romeoville, Freeport, Oak Lawn, and Huntley, Illinois.

Residential:

  • Government entitlements for more than 7,000 new single family, townhome and apartment units in Antioch, Joliet, Evanston, Yorkville and Lake County, Illinois.
  • Zoning and development approvals for significant Chicago residential projects in Streeterville, River North and the South Loop.
  • An elderly residential care campus on Chicago’s northwest side.

Office:

  • Development approvals for a 950-acre pharmaceutical office and research facility in unincorporated Lake County, Illinois.
  • A high density, high-rise office building along Chicago’s West Wacker Drive.
  • A national supply and distribution company’s headquarters relocation to Lake Forest.

Industrial:

  • Power plant siting projects in Libertyville, Waukegan, and Joliet, Illinois.
  • Landfill and transfer station hearings and siting approvals in Zion, Davis Junction, Melrose Park, Batavia, West Chicago, and Rolling Meadows, Illinois.
  • Construction and expansion of industrial facilities in Mt. Prospect and Skokie, Illinois.

Historic Preservation:

  • Landmark designation, preservation easements, and/or historic rehabilitation and historic tax credits for:

• Buildings in Chicago’s Michigan Avenue Historic District.

• An international brand name department store.

• A major South Loop hotel.

• A LaSalle Street office building.

• A North Loop office to residential conversion.