Chicago’s shoreline, stretching from Evanston on the north to the Indiana border on the south, comprises 30 miles of lakefront. Since the City’s incorporation in the 1830’s, 26 of the 30 miles of Chicago’s lakefront have been developed as a public lakefront park system, unrivaled around the world for its beauty and accessibility.

Today, two stretches of Chicago’s lakefront totaling approximately four miles are not part of Chicago’s public lakefront park system. This consists of two miles along the south lakeshore and portions on the north lakefront where there are gaps between the small parks and beaches with no continuous lakefront path.

Click here to see the existing shoreline conditions on the South Side.
Click here to see the existing shoreline conditions on the North Side.

Friends of the Parks (FOTP), motivated by the Burnham Plan Centennial, selected a team of planners, architects and landscape architects (Design Team) to develop a plan for the completion of the lakefront parks – The Last Four Miles. The Design Team includes Joanne Bauer and Julia Burns with BauerLatoza Studio, Peter Kindel and Kareeshma Ali with Topografis, John Buenz with Solomon Cordwell Benz, and Tom Greene with Greene and Proppe Design. The Team began working in 2006 with citizens, park advisory councils, community groups, public officials, and government representatives to envision this plan.

Preliminary design concepts were developed to complete the south lakefront parks between 71st and 95th Streets, and to complete the north lakefront parks between Hollywood Avenue and the Evanston border.


SOUTH LAKEFRONT PLANNING

In 2006, FOTP sponsored a community design charrette at Calumet Park. A group of architects and planners worked with citizens, park advisory councils, and community organizations to develop planning principals and goals and a vision for new parkland and greenways in the south lakefront currently without parks. These areas include:

The south lakefront design concept plan includes over 400 acres of new parkland, with new beaches, recreational fields, greenways, and natural areas. Specifically the plan includes the following design features:

South Lakefront One - Iroquois Landing (92nd to 95th, north of Calumet Park): Iroquois Landing, along with the adjacent Confined Disposal Area, is 140 acres of publicly owned land. The plan recommends that this land be converted to public parkland and connect the existing Calumet Park to the south with the newly created parkland at the former US Steel site to the north. The area would provide additional active and passive parkland as an expansion to the over-utilized Calumet Park.

South Lakefront Three - Gap between the South Shore Cultural Center (71st) and Rainbow Beach (75th): Two designs were created for this area which is immediately adjacent to existing single-family and high-rise-condominium buildings. The base design includes 23 acres of new parkland to connect the South Shore Cultural Center Park and Rainbow Beach Park. This park area provides a continuous lakefront path and a new public beach surrounded by active and passive greenspace. The 40 acre alternate concept adds a lagoon created by two peninsulas connected by a pedestrian bridge. The lagoon area is ideal for recreational activities and provides animal and plant habitat.

		NØ
	Alternate Detail Plan: 71st. St to 75th St.: An alternate plan to connect the South Shore Cultural Center Park and Rainbow Beach Park would create two peninsulas, connected by a pedestrian bridge for the lakefront trail.

Paula Freeze, Editor
editor@ilapa.org

THE ILAPA NEWS BLAST! IS THE BI-MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE ILLINOIS CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION. OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THE ARTICLES OF THIS NEWSLETTER ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE OPINIONS OF THE ILLINOIS CHAPTER, THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION, OR THE EDITOR.

THE ILAPA NEWS BLAST! HAS A CIRCULATION OF APPROXIMATELY 1,500.