A homeowner shouted down Trustee Cory Wesley around midnight Tuesday at the Oak Park Village Board's Aug. 4 meeting as Wesley began explaining the racist history of exclusionary single-family zoning, according to an attendee's account published in the Wednesday Journal.

The confrontation capped a public comment period that drew more than 20 homeowners, split on the village's proposed zoning overhaul, and two renters who spoke in favor of legalizing additional housing types. It was the board's first meeting since its unanimous July 28 vote to refer the Opticos Design "Shape Oak Park" recommendation to the Plan Commission.

Wesley, who has repeatedly connected the zoning debate to Oak Park's history of racial exclusion, had waited hours for his turn to speak. The homeowner who interrupted him had already addressed the board during public comment, according to Noel Stringham, who described the incident in a letter to the Wednesday Journal. Stringham, who said it was his first village board meeting, wrote that "the derisive energy flowing off many of the anti-zoning-change (and overwhelmingly white) homeowners was something I never expected to see in my beloved Oak Park."

At the board's July 21 meeting, Wesley had framed the stakes in stark terms: "What you're arguing for is a system that keeps people like me from living next to people like you," he said during debate over an advisory referendum the board ultimately rejected 5-1, as we reported July 24. "The reason the zoning change is important is because housing types dictate race."

What the proposal would change

The Opticos recommendation would allow duplexes, townhomes and small apartment buildings in residential zones currently restricted to single-family homes. Oak Park's single-family zoning ordinance dates to 1921. Under the proposal, multi-unit buildings would be divided into subcategories based on unit count, with height limits rising from 30 to 35 feet in residential districts and from 35 to 50 feet in current multi-family districts. The village's overnight parking ban would also be eliminated.

Single-unit homes would still be permitted everywhere they are allowed now.

What comes next

A presentation on the economic feasibility study's findings is expected in late August, according to the Chicago Tribune. The first public engagement meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 27, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Community Recreation Center, 229 Madison St. The Plan Commission's public hearing is tentatively set for Sept. 17, with a possible second hearing Oct. 8. A final Village Board vote is expected in October.

Village Manager Kevin Jackson said at the board's July 21 meeting that at least four public engagement meetings would be held around the village and online before the Plan Commission begins its hearings.