FOURTH DIVISION

Filed: November 29, 2001

No. 1-00-1119

PRESIDING JUSTICE HOFFMAN delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff, 1350 Lake Shore Associates (LSA), appeals from a circuit court order, enteredfollowing a bench trial, denying its petition for a writ of mandamus directing the defendant,Christopher R. Hill, Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development of the City ofChicago (Commissioner), to issue it a Part II Approval letter, a necessary prerequisite to the issuanceof a building permit for construction within a residential planned development. For the reasonswhich follow, we reverse.

At all times relevant to this appeal, LSA has owned the property located at 1320-30 LakeShore Drive in Chicago, Illinois (the property). On April 5, 1978, LSA, through its agent Draper andKramer, Inc., (Draper), filed an application to amend the property's zoning from "R8 GeneralResidence" to a residential planned development which would permit the construction of a high-riseapartment building. On November 14, 1978, the Chicago City Council approved the requestedamendment and established "Residential Planned Development 196" (RPD 196), permittingconstruction of a 40-story, 196-unit apartment building on the property.

After having secured the passage of RPD 196 in 1978, LSA chose not to develop theproperty at that time. Sometime in 1996, LSA, again through its agent Draper, began investigatingthe possibility of developing the property in conformity with RPD 196. It ultimately decided to goforward with the project. Draper hired an attorney, Jack Guthman, to represent it in connection withthe project, hired an architect to draw up plans, and took other steps toward development.⁽¹⁾ The planto construct a high-rise apartment building, however, met with community opposition. On December10, 1997, Charles Bernardini, then alderman of Chicago's 43^rd Ward, the ward in which the propertyis located, introduced an ordinance (hereinafter referred to as the down-zoning ordinance) proposingto change the property's zoning from RPD 196 to "R6 General Residence District," under which theproposed building would not be a permitted use.

On December 11, 1997, the day after Alderman Bernardini introduced the down-zoningordinance, the project architect submitted plans (Part II Submittal) to the Department of Planningand Development of the City of Chicago (Department of Planning), seeking the issuance of a PartII Approval letter. Prior to trial, the parties stipulated that "[u]nder the City's policies and procedures,a Part II Submittal is a necessary precondition to the issuance of a Part II Approval Letter" and that"[u]nder those same policies and procedures, Plaintiff cannot obtain a building permit withoutreceiving a Part II Approval Letter." Although the parties have not provided us with a citation to orcopy of any "policies and procedures" which use the terminology Part II Submittal and Part IIApproval, it appears that the Part II process is undertaken pursuant to Article 11 of the ChicagoZoning Ordinance (Zoning Ordinance), which sets forth the procedures and substantive standardswith respect to, inter alia, the issuance of zoning certificates. Section 11.5 of the Zoning Ordinance,entitled Zoning Certificates, provides, in relevant part, that

"no permit pertaining to the use of land or buildings shall be issued by any officer,department, or employee of this City unless the application for such permit has beenexamined by the Office of the Zoning Administrator and has affixed to it a certificateof the Office of the Zoning Administrator that the proposed building or structurecomplies with all the provisions of this comprehensive amendment." Chicago ZoningOrdinance