Land sale near Goose Island approved despite green-space concerns
By Kevin Beese For Chronicle Media — August 29, 2017
The Sterling Bay site, 1685 N. Throop St., is just one piece in the proposed 760-acre Industrial Corridor. (City of Chicago photo)
Despite two Chicago aldermen expressing reservations over the lack of guaranteed green space, development will occur on the city’s fleet management site near Goose Island.
Members of the Chicago Plan Commission have given the green light for Sterling Bay to purchase the 18-acre fleet management site in what has been dubbed the North Branch Industrial Corridor. The Sterling Bay site, 1685 N. Throop St., is just one piece in the proposed 760-acre Industrial Corridor.
Ald. Michele Smith (43rd Ward) said the city should not be so quick to give up one of its few remaining big parcels without a clear direction established for the site.
“To sell it without a vision for it is wrong. It is a loss of 18 acres,” Smith said. “It is misguided and short-sighted.”
She said that land should be retained for the public.
“We don’t even know how many residents are going to move into the area,” Smith said of the increasingly popular section of the city.
She said that density in the area is expected to shoot up dramatically with 7,500 dwelling units being built on 150 or 200 acres of the Industrial Corridor.
Smith said when Sterling Bay does actually do development on the site, everything possible needs to be done to ensure adequate green space. She wants to see 15 acres of the North Branch Industrial Corridor set aside for public green space.
“There is a lack of vision,” Smith said of the proposed development when talking at last week’s Plan Commission meeting. “… Once public land is sold it is gone forever.”
Department of Planning and Development Commissioner David Reifman, who sits on the Plan Commission, took exception with Smith’s comments, noting that great thought was given to the planning of the corridor over 14 months.
“We do have a vision for the area,” Reifman said, reminding Smith that the initial proposal for the land sale got a favorable 46-2 vote when presented to the City Council.
Reifman said the use of the fleet management site on Throop sets off a chain reaction of positives for the city. He noted that moving the city’s vehicle fleet management to the Englewood area, $20 million from the land sale going toward the city’s public safety training academy on the West Side, and an enhanced 311 information system are all generated through the sale.
Sterling Bay will pay $104 million for the 18-acre city parcel.
Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) also expressed reservations about the city turning the land over to Sterling Bay, saying he didn’t think a mixed-use development “is the highest and best use of the parcel” and agreed with Smith that more dedicated green space is needed in the area.
He did, however, give his “conditional support” to the deal, saying 18 acres on the Chicago River should not remain in city control for fleet maintenance use.
“I can’t find fault with the plan,” Hopkins said.
The alderman did warn Sterling Bay leaders though that when they come back to the city with a Planned Development (a special city zoning designation for projects exceeding certain size, height and density thresholds) for the parcel there had better include recreational space.
“I will not support any plan without substantial and contiguous recreational space,” Hopkins said.
He said anything short of a written guarantee of 10 acres of green space would be difficult to get his backing. Hopkins said recreational space provided by a developer is not different that recreational space provided by the city or Chicago Park District.
“Go to a soccer field in Pilsen and ask the kids there if they care that a developer paid for it,” Hopkins said. “They will look at you. They don’t care who pays for it. I call on this development to provide for citizens what they want.”
Members of the city’s Plan Commission unanimously approved the sale of the parcel to Sterling Bay. Commissioner Smita Shah recused herself from voting because of a conflict of interest.
Allan Mellis, a resident of the industrial corridor area, agreed with the aldermen that the ordinance approving the sale of the property did not go far enough in requiring open space be included in the parcel’s development.
“Ten acres of community open space should be set aside in lieu of impact fees,” Mellis said. “If the recreational open space commitment is going to materialize, the time to start is now.”
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— Land sale near Goose Island approved despite green-space concerns—
