Mayor Johnson's Campaign To Cut Red Tape Draws Positive Reviews

Mayor Brandon Johnson's bid to win over the development community by cutting administrative red tape is starting to show some early results. 

P3 Markets principal Phillip Beckham III said at Bisnow’s Chicago Public-Private Partnerships event Wednesday that communication between developers and city officials has improved with Johnson’s bid to speed up approval processes. 

Beckham said there are about 15 departments in the city that developers have to work with to get a project done, and in the past, communication wasn’t that great. But after the Johnson administration asked the private sector about its issues in moving projects forward, it has incorporated feedback into its plan to streamline city processes.

“It's been better,” Beckham said onstage at Saranello’s in Wheeling. “All those departments now will be talking. … Every administration has to deal with things that they had nothing to do with and then you have to fix it. It goes back to everybody wants to communicate, but then when you have a side that actually listens, that's a huge part of the partnership.”

In April, Johnson’s administration released a Cut the Tape report, the first part of a three-stage initiative he announced in December. The administration outlined three strategic priorities: speeding up the pace of development through streamlined approvals, allowing development in more locations and creating more partnerships between the city and other entities. 

The report detailed more than 100 recommendations to improve the development process, including 10 “big bets,” or signature improvements the administration is promoting. Top priorities include: 

• Creating a new role in the mayor’s office for the director of process improvement to bolster cross-department coordination.

• Expediting reviews for affordable housing projects.

• Zoning changes to eliminate minimum parking requirements and speed up special use permits.

“This strategy will quickly increase residential and commercial projects, stimulating business sectors and addressing the urgent need for housing,” Johnson said in a statement last month. “Together, we're breaking down barriers to progress and building towards a more prosperous city for all.”

Johnson has made a few other business-friendly moves in the past several months, possibly to counter a protracted real estate transfer tax battle that put his administration at odds with many in the CRE community. 

In October, the mayor tapped CRG executive Ciere Boatright to head the Department of Planning and Development. In April, he pulled the trigger on an initiative to convert aging downtown office space to apartments on LaSalle Street and gave full-throated support for a new Bears stadium on the lakefront. 

These moves may help address some of the questions the CRE community raised about Johnson’s business priorities at the six-month mark of his mayoralty.

Developers can also take steps to smooth partnerships with the city, Chicago Chief Operating Officer John Roberson said. He said there are two best practices: defining the public benefit of a project and outlining how the project is equitable. 

In addition to economic data points, developers need to consider why their projects are important to the everyday person, he said. 

“Equity has to be at the center,” Roberson said. “It is not about equality anymore, folks, it’s about equity. It means that the investments that are made on the South and West sides require more resources, require more leaning in than in the Loop.”

The city can also look to the private sector to help it innovate, Roberson said. There are administrative processes the city is still doing “with pen and paper” that it needs to improve, he said.

Public and private entities coming together can help stakeholders build impactful projects that move initiatives forward and drive the “highest and best quality of life” for all of the city’s residents, Roberson said.  

“Partnership is about … listening and communication and understanding each other's particular interests,” he said. “It's also about not questioning each other's intentions and motives. If we're all coming to the table in partnership, it means that we're all coming to bring our best selves to this conversation.”