By Reina Hardy
Special to inside
As this story goes to print, contractors are driving steel sheet pilings into the lake between Belmont and Diversey, preparing to pour concrete on a revetment that will become the new shoreline, and protect the land from erosion for years to come. Meanwhile, down in Hyde Park, waves break on a limestone revetment that has defined Promontory Point since the 1930s, a revetment similar to the one that used to line the Belmont/Diversey shore. Why is the city building here, and not there?
In fact, both sites were originally slated for reconstruction, and in both neighborhoods, there was considerable protest. The South East Lake View Neighbors Association (SELVN), a community activist group, leads the opposition on the North Side, but SELVN president Bob Clarke considers the lakefront, which has undergone extensive re-building in recent years, to be a city-wide issue. "Most of the lakefront is doomed, in my opinion," he said, "by this horrible concrete Alcatraz look. The last two chances are Promontory Point and Belmont and Diversey."
But the northern half of the Lake View revetment has already been demolished, while construction in Hyde Park has been indefinitely delayed. "The only reason that they would end up with a better revetment is that they have assembled more political clout for which they deserve a lot of credit," Clarke said. "Many of the things reported in these studies have equal applicability over here." Clarke referred to studies such as the Driehaus report, commissioned by the Community Task Force for Promontory Point, which concluded that limestone revetments would actually be preferable to concrete. "Our position is that we are entitled to at least as good a revetment as Hyde Park."
According to the Community Task Force's Web site (www.savethepoint.org), the reasons for the city's differential treatment of the two sites goes back decades, to the passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 (see: www2.cr.nps.gov/laws/NHPA1966.htm). This law states that any owners of historic property who plan to alter that property using federal funds must first get approval from a designated state agency. For Chicago, that body is the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency (IHPA).
On Sept. 25, 2001, the Hyde Park Historical Society wrote a letter to IHPA asking them to review the proposal to rebuild Promontory Point, which, like the entire lakefront project, is a joint venture of the Park District, the Department of the Environment, and the Army Core of Engineers.
The Core, according to its 1994 congressional report on the project (house document 103- 02), had originally agreed "that the design and construction of the revetment will match the existing structures. The IHPA's early notification, along with what board member Jack Spicer calls a supportive alderman, Ald. Leslie Hairston (5th), helped delay construction on Promontory Point, pending an acceptable plan. Lake View activists, however, did not notify the IHPA, which has only gotten involved with Belmont/Diversey in the last three months.
Vasile Jurca, the Department of the Environment's project manager for the entire lakefront, says the northern half of the mile long stretch will be completed sometime next spring. It will include a 125 foot limestone toe berm, composed of the recycled blocks, which will extend into the water beyond the sheet metal. Jurca says that there are not enough stones to extend the toe berm further, and that new cut limestone is unavailable (a claim that Bob Clarke contests, citing the Driehaus report on the availability of the stone in Indiana quarries).
The Department of the Environment has not yet signed a contractor for the southern half of the Belmont/Diversey project (which will also include a 125 foot toe berm), and will not post their plans to potential bidders until sometime this fall. According to Jurca, construction will not start until the northern half is complete to avoid tying up too much of the lakefront.
Community activist Karen Kennedy says that the redesign has already gone too far, blocking views and access to the lake throughout the neighborhood. "The Army Corps of Engineers sees the lake as the enemy. For safety in the case of a mega-catastrophe, a once-in-200-years megastorm, we have a design that ruins our lakefront every other day of the year. They've engineered away the soul of the lake." She says the design, which utilizes a flat promenade for wheel chair accessibility and a drop-off, is unsafe as well as unsightly: "Although they considered this superstorm, they didn't consider that a person or a dog might fall in," Kennedy added.
Meanwhile, SELVN has not yet given up hope for more concessions. In a July 21 meeting, Vice President Howard Rosenberg presented the results of his July 3 discussion with Ald. Tom Tunney (44th). "It's become a big issue on Ald. Tunney's radar," said Rosenberg. "Often we hear that we're too far gone, the project has already started. Our job is to convince the decision makers that until the last piece of concrete is set, you can make modifications." These modifications include an extension of the toe berm, and re-use of certain limestone blocks in a gay, lesbian and transgendered memorial garden.
Blaine Roberts, the director of Community Outreach for Ald. Tunney, says the garden and other compromises emerged from dialogue with local citizens during regular meetings. "Our concerns are the community concerns." The next meeting about the parkland behind the revetment is scheduled for tMonday, Aug. 25, at 7 p.m. at Anne Sather's, 929 W. Belmont Ave., and Roberts encourages everybody to attend. He believes that a compromise is possible. "The whole idea is to protect the lakefront— we all want what is aesthetically pleasing and sound from an engineering standpoint for this place we love. We don't want the lakefront to drop into the lake."
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