|
Community
|
|
Thursday, 25 June 2009 05:20 |
By Dylan Heath
A year after holding a series of contentious meetings in Rogers Park, Edgewater and on the south side to solicit public comment, On June 9, Friends of the Park (FOTP) unveiled its plan to add nearly 500 acres of park space to Chicago’s lake front.
FOTP Public Trust and Policy Director Eleanor Roemer described the proposal as a completion of Chicago’s public lake-front parks, and a fulfillment of Daniel Burnham’s Chicago Plan, which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. “In the spirit of Burnham we offer this as an extension of his idea,” Roemer said.
The plan, named “Last Four Miles,” will add 70 acres to the lakeside in the north side neighborhoods running up to the Chicago-Evanston border, according to the FOTP. They also want to add 400 acres to the south side, replacing the former U.S. Steel manufacturing plant.
The FOTP proposal calls for an island to be built off the current shoreline of Lake Michigan along Chicago’s far north side. Bob Remer, President of the Edgewater Historical society, said this would not be the first time landfills were used to extend the lake shore.
“[In the] early 1900s the city came in and built up Sheridan road,” Remer said. He went on to say Lake Shore Drive and much of Edgewater “came up because of land fills.”
The Last Four Miles could cost between $350 and $450 million and would be paid out “incrementally... as the funds would become available,” Roemer said.
According to Roemer, the plan will not require tax increases. Funding is expected to come from local bonds and contributions from the Chicago Park District (CPD) and the City.
Not everyone is happy about the plan. Phil Bernstein, retired Chief Planner of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said that he thinks the Last Four Miles has “no justification.”
Bernstein said he does not have a problem with the idea of completing the open lakefront, but he said the project is not economical.
“I am pretty sure that a $300 million construction project is going to turn into a $500 million construction cost,” Bernstein said. He also emphasized that the CPD is “broke.”
Bernstein said Edgewater residents have already spoken out against adding onto the parks. In the 2008 General Election, 60 percent of residents in the 48th Ward voted “Yes” on an advisory ballot initiative to prohibit lake-front expansion.
Those against the project are not just people who live on the shore, he continued. According to the Chicago Board of Elections Website, a majority backed the non-binding referendum in all but one of the Ward’s 54 precincts, and it was an even split in the other.
Roemer said the plan is worth the cost. She said it would create a continuous lakefront bike trail from “Evanston on the North to the Indiana border on the South.”
48th Ward Alderman Mary Ann Smith could not be reached for comment. Joe Moore, Alderman for the 49th Ward, said he wanted to read more of the literature before he gave an opinion. |
