Text Amendment

LEAD cohorts further categorize people into those earning 0-30%, 30-60%, 60-80%, 80-100%, and 100% and more of the Area Median Income.

Heating fuel bills for these cohorts is different depending on the household’s cohort and the tract they reside in. The methodology for our profile involved separately adding each tract’s gas and electricity bills, across all cohorts, and finding an average. The mean of this new figure was then calculated, and subsequently divided by twelve months to find a workable monthly bill for utility gas and electricity that can represent all AMI cohorts. These bills are $63.10 a month for utility gas and $90.84 for electricity. Annually, the average expenditures for any given household in the three tracts are $757.20 for utility gas heating and $1,090.08 for electrical heating.

Methodology for Calculating Latinx Energy Burden AMI:

To focus on vulnerable populations that can benefit from structural policies and programs that reduce energy wastage, the 0-30% of AMI cohort was analyzed qualitatively. However, the AMI for Chicagoland characterized Blue Island and our study area differently. According to figures from the 2018 American Community Survey (to match the data the LEAD Tool uses), the median household income for all of Blue Island was $48,398. In our three tract study area, the median household income was $50,536. This skews wealthier because the Western Tract - 8235 - consists of different socioeconomic demographics than the other two tracts. Nevertheless, a median income of $50,536 is 59.7% of the Chicagoland AMI, meaning that more households in Blue Island fit into cohorts of 0-30% and 30-60% of the AMI.

A.3 Weatherization Program and Landmarked Structures- Amendment Text

To better implement weatherization for landmarked homes in Blue Island, the City will add the following text amendments:

For Section 3.2 - Definitions of Words and Phrases of the Zoning Ordinance: a text amendment to add “(40) EFFICIENT CONTEMPORARY USE: is the designation for a residential building or a group of residential buildings built in 1990 or earlier that meet a 15% reduction in energy consumption compared to an initial energy audit.” to establish an energy standard for R1 structures.

For Section 4.4 - Schedule Use of Controls - District R1 of the Zoning Ordinance: a text amendment to include the mention of “efficient contemporary use” in the district’s intent to establish structural conformity.

• This will affect Section 6.4 (1) of the Zoning Ordinance, in which residential structures in an R1 district that do not meet the efficient contemporary use standard through defined repair and alterations regulations will result in a non-conforming structure.

• This will affect Section Two.A.21 - Rehabilitation of the

Historic Preservation Ordinance by operationalizing the phrase “efficient contemporary use” to conform with the definition of the Zoning Ordinance. This means landmarked homes will be encouraged by the Historic Preservation Commission to undergo weatherization so as to not be non-conforming in R1 districts.