Open Space Impact Fees
In 1998, the City of Chicago adopted the Open Space Impact Fee Ordinance to address the need for additional public space and recreational facilities for the benefit of the residents of newly created residential developments in the City.
The fees are part of an agreement between the City of Chicago and a developer to ensure that adequate open space and recreational facilities are provided within the City. The requirement is based on the fact that new development projects increase the population density within a given community and place greater demands on park and recreation land in that community. Therefore, the Open Space Fees are required to assist in the acquisition of additional park space in the development area.
The Open Space Ordinance, through the Department of Revenue, collects funds derived from fee-paying developments that are deposited in localized funding accounts, corresponding to the Community Area (there are 77 communities in Chicago) in which each of the fee-paying developments pays to the City on terms and timeframes set by the Department of Revenue.
The Open Space Ordinance requires that the fees be expended within the same or a contiguous community area from which they were collected after a legislative finding by the City Council that the expenditures of the Open Space Fees will directly and materially benefit the developments from which the Open Space Fees were collected.
In 2007, Alderman Ed Burke, 14th Ward, challenged the Department of Planning and Development to release these funds. Several community area Open Space Fee accounts were storing millions of dollars with no real spending plan. Since then, a host of open space projects were introduced through the City Council. In 2007 alone, the City released $5.4 million in Open Space Fees.
Friends of the Parks is interested in assisting park advocates with directing those capital spending accounts in cooperation with government and local developers. For more information on Open Space Impact Fees, contact Jill C. Heise, Friends of the Parks, Director of Neighborhood Parks and Community Relations at (312) 857-2757 ext. 17. E-mail: heisej@fotp.org.
