Duplexes, townhomes, and small apartment buildings could be allowed on every residential block in Oak Park if the Village Board accepts a consultant's recommendations at its Tuesday, July 28 meeting. A newly organized community group is pushing back on the process.

A group calling itself MIMBY Oak Park (Maybe in My Back Yard) sent postcards to mailboxes across the village in mid-July asking "SHOULD WE BE CONCERNED?" about ending single-family zoning. The group, which includes two former Historic Preservation Commission chairs, Lou Garapolo and Frank Heitzman, wants a more democratic process before the board sets a new policy direction for the village's residential neighborhoods.

What's on the table

The Village Board hired Opticos Design in August 2025 to study eliminating single-family zoning and expanding "missing middle" housing. The village released the firm's draft recommendations the week of July 14 on EngageOakPark.com/Shape. Those recommendations would eliminate zoning that restricts development to single-family buildings, opening the door to duplexes, townhomes, and small-scale multi-unit buildings village-wide. Specific provisions on building heights, setbacks, and maximum unit counts have not been detailed in publicly accessible documents.

The July 28 vote would accept or reject the recommendations as policy direction. Development Services Director Craig Failor said at the June 16 board meeting that the vote sets policy direction before the legal hearing process begins. If the board approves, the proposal still goes to the Plan Commission, and actual zoning code changes would not take effect until at least October 2026.

On June 16, the board also approved a $128,000 amendment to its contract with Opticos for economic feasibility work, additional community outreach, and a zoning comparison tool for property owners.

The referendum question

Trustee Jim Taglia, seconded by Trustee Cory Wesley, offered a motion to consider placing an advisory referendum on the zoning changes on the November ballot. Village Attorney Greg Smith clarified at the July 14 board meeting that a binding referendum is not possible under the Illinois Constitution, but an advisory referendum gauging public opinion is allowed. The board had not publicly confirmed the outcome of Taglia's motion as of Tuesday, July 22.

Kimberlee Smith, owner of Smith Architecture, told the board on July 14: "This is not simply a policy decision. It is a decision about the physical framework of nearly every residential neighborhood in Oak Park. On questions of such permanence, I believe the strongest foundation is public trust."

Village President Vicki Scaman said at the same meeting that the proposal is "too broadly being thought of as a broad stroke of getting rid of single-family zoning" and argued the board is putting more thought into it. Scaman pushed for the Opticos report to be released before the July 28 vote.

Who is MIMBY

MIMBY member Josh Klayman, who taught at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business and ran for village trustee in 2019, said the group spotted the zoning overhaul as a case where decisions "were not being made in a way that we thought was sufficiently representative."

The group says it is not opposed to new construction. Its website states members "seek win-win outcomes" and want "the size and style of new buildings to fit in with their surroundings." They list the Grove Apartments on Madison Street as an example of a successful Oak Park development.

Klayman and fellow member Lehman said they have spoken with Village President Scaman and a representative from Opticos about their concerns. They want the village to conduct more energetic outreach, connecting directly with community groups and congregations, and to seek community input earlier in the process.

What comes next

The Village Board votes Tuesday, July 28. If the board accepts the Opticos recommendations, the Plan Commission takes up the proposal, and new zoning rules would be drafted later in 2026 with implementation no earlier than October. Supporters of the zoning changes point to the village's track record: Trustee Wesley noted at the June 16 meeting that Oak Park's existing Inclusionary Housing Ordinance has generated nearly $5 million and funded over 10,000 months of affordable rent, supporting 86 existing affordable units with 64 more potentially forthcoming.