From the Chicago News-Star:
A City Council committee has approved a substitute ordinance that would place many of the businesses on the 4800 block of North Western Avenue on a “voluntary” acquisition list, rather than allow the city to condemn private property in Lincoln Square for private development should property owners refuse to sell.
The substitute ordinance was approved Jan. 3 by the City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate.
While this is definitely a victory for the property owners involved, the cloud of eminent domain has not lifted completely because they are still on an acquisition list:
Nancy Smarinsky, representing her husband, David, who owns the Dental Corner practice at 4857 N. Western Ave., told aldermen that she was still uneasy about the substitute ordinance.
“I know we were put on a voluntary basis, but it doesn’t take us off the acquisition,” Smarinsky said. “We can’t re-do our bathrooms because we know that four years from now we’ll have to go through this again.”