Winnetka Trustee Candidates Pledge Open Minds On Affordable Housing

With a study session on Winnetka's controversial affordable housing initiative one week from today, the four Winnetka trustee candidates say they have not decided whether they support it or not.

Recent news reports and mailings have generated talk and speculation about how the candidates would eventually vote on the plan. But no trustee candidate has explicitly stated his or her position.

The Winnetka Home Owners Association has been particularly vocal about the affordable housing plan. In a recent newspaper mailed to Winnetka residences, WHOA endorsed Richard Kates, Jennifer Spinney and Arthur Braun for village trustee, though Carry Buck, who leads the organization, said none of those candidates has promised to vote one way or the other.

"Not one of those people have told us how they would vote on affordable housing," Buck said, referring to Kates, Spinney and Braun. "But we know they are clean and fair. They're not agenda-oriented."

The fourth candidate, incumbent Linda Pedian, helped write the plan and although she said she hasn't made up her mind, Buck is lobbying against her.

Winnetka Is Neighborly, a newer organization advocating for the affordable housing plan, has not expressed support for any of the candidates.

Winnetka's affordable housing plan is multifaceted, addressing many different types of housing that could be possible in the village. Proposals in the plan include:

• Preserving downtown apartments and "recapturing" those that are used as commercial space.
• Relaxing restrictions on coach house renovation and encouraging their use as rental properties.
• Establishing a community land trust -- a non-profit that could purchase less expensive homes that would be resold to families who would own the building itself but lease the land from the trust.
• Setting aside a small percentage of any new development for affordable units

For more stories and information on Winnetka's affordable housing plan, including the above goals, check Winnetka-Glencoe Patch this week.

In the meantime, read what the four candidates told Patch about their position on the plan.

Linda Pedian

Though Buck has written in WHOA emails and the newspaper that Linda Pedian supports the affordable housing plan, Pedian says the accusations are off-base.

"I've been made to look like the mastermind behind the plan and that I'm not going into this with an open mind, but that's not the case," Pedian said.

Pedian served on the plan commission and worked on the affordable housing plan. She described working on the plan as a "homework assignment" -- part of fulfilling her plan commissioner duties.

"I may have a little more information than the others because I worked on this plan, but that doesn't mean I have made a decision," she said.

But Buck and WHOA members have pointed to this as indication that Pedian would support the plan.

"Linda Pedian has a strong record in support of affordable housing," Buck said. She's one of the five people who made it happen, now she's a trustee, we know exactly how she'll vote."

Though she has not reached an overall decision, Pedian said Monday she did not favor one part of the plan that deals with creating affordable single-family homes in residential neighborhoods through a community land trust.

"I don't think we should be dabbling into single-family homes," Pedian said. "This is about multi-family residences in the downtown business districts."

The key to making a decision will be hearing from residents, Pedian said.

"I come to it with a very open mind, a very generous heart and a very intelligent head," Pedian said. "I want to hear from all of our residents, and in particular, our residents who live here and pay taxes here."

Richard Kates

Richard Kates says what is missing from the affordable housing plan is an implementation strategy.

"The plan itself leaves out details that should be disclosed to the public before the plan is considered and that includes who pays, what the costs are, who's going to be impacted and how it's going to be enforced," Kates said.

Kates said he has read and studied the plan but believes it is unacceptable without information on how the policies would be executed.

"Let the public have their say," he said.

Arthur Braun

Similar to Kates, Arthur Braun said he was interested in the plan's implementation strategy.

"The goal of providing affordable housing is a noble goal but the implementation has not been well described or completely described and that is where the whole key to the issue is," Braun said.

Input from residents at the April 12 study session will also affect his decision, he said.

"Eventually, [residents] are the ones who are going to benefit or not benefit from it," Braun said.

Jennifer Spinney

Though she said she has read the plan and is studying the issue, Jennifer Spinney was not ready to formulate a position on it.

"I am still studying affordable housing and I do not have a position yet," she said.