By Peter von Buol
Special to Inside
Three years after city officials first told Inside that a vacant lot at the intersection of Lincoln Ave., Addison St. and Ravenswood Ave. had been purchased and would soon be converted into a city park, the land continues to remain void of grass or park equipment. Only glass bottles, paper trash and the base of a wicker chair litter the site.
At the time of the announcement, the local conservation organization CorLands was credited with saving the land from development. The organization had made the initial purchase of the land, and later re-sold it to the city for the same price it had paid: $650,000.
In 2002, Ald. Ted Matlak (32nd) praised the swift action of the conservation organization. "CorLands has been very good because it gave us the ability to compete with the private sector. Land can sell here overnight," said Matlak at the time.
The nonprofit conservation organization often purchases land on behalf of local governments. It resells the land, at no profit, so it can be converted into parkland.
Financed by LaSalle Bank, Corlands purchased the property in 2002. Three years ago, the City of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development told Inside it had already purchased the land from the conservation organization and budgeted $113,000 for its environmental clean-up.
When contacted by Inside, CorLands declined to comment but the Ward's alderman said the land actually was acquired by the city in 2003.
"The city did not own the land until 2003 and it is, in fact, [still] slated to be a park," says Matlak.
Matlak added that the land had to undergo environmental clean-up before its conversion into a park. He says it was found to be contaminated with environmental hazards. The clean-up process for a park the size of the empty lot in Roscoe Village can take about a year.
According to Erma Tranter, who heads the local parks advocacy organization Friends of the Parks, the contamination found at the site was not unusual. "The city's department of environment found contamination on the site [but that] is not unusual in a dense urban setting. There is some amount of environmental contamination on all city properties," says Tranter.
The environmental assessment of the site has just been completed. The site is now waiting for clean-up—but that process can take a while, says Constance Buscemi, spokesperson for the city's Department of Planning and Development. "We wanted to make sure that the land [has been] taken care of properly and sometimes that just takes time," said Buscemi.
Tranter explains the city does not actually clean up such sites with city clean-up crews. An outside contractor is used to clean up a site.
"The Department of Environment must go out to bid and approve a contract for the clean-up. Once cleaned, the contractor will plant grass. At that point, the land is clean enough for the Park District to take ownership," says Tranter.
Larry Merritt, spokesperson for the city's Department of Environment, confirms the park is scheduled to be completed next year. No lights or benches will be installed until after a plan for its further development is approved.
According to Tranter, "No dollars have been allocated in the Park District's capital budget" to further fund its development but initial plans had included a children's playground.
Matlak says the first phase of the park [the clean-up] will be completed by next fall but before the Park District embarks on its further development, community input is needed. "What type of park will go in there? Should it be a playground or kept as green-space?" asked Matlak.
Two neighborhood groups, the Roscoe Village Neighbors Organization and the West Lakeview Neighbors Organization, have asked their members to provide input.
Prior to its purchase by CorLands, the land had most recently been one of the locations of Betty's Resale Shop, a neighborhood junk dealer. Earlier, the site had been a car dealership that specialized in used European cars. Many of these cars were gray market automobiles—cars not initially built for export to the United States. These cars had to be first modified to comply with U. S. safety and emission standards before they could legally be sold in this country. |
