Plans for urban farm and new park space

Mayor Richard M. Daley introduced to the City Council last month measures that would create a small urban farm on the Near North Side and a small park in the Roscoe Village neighborhood.

"Parks and public open spaces play an important role in residential areas. They are essential building blocks of strong neighborhoods," Mayor Daley said. "Neighborhood gardens and urban farms can be great educational tools for Chicagoans young and old, while putting vacant land to good use."

Under Mayor Daley's plan, the Resource Center, a non-profit environmental organization, would temporarily use a 34,000- square-foot site in the 1200 block of N. Clybourn Ave. until such time as the site is redeveloped for mixed-income housing. Resource Center will plant crops this summer and continue to farm on the site until these parcels are needed for redevelopment in accordance with the Near North Redevelopment Initiative.

The project will put the land to productive use, and the farm will be used to help educate local primary school students about agriculture. The Resource Center organization has been promoting recycling and other environmental causes since 1975. For the past three years, Resource Center have been farming similar plots of vacant land in the Grand Crossing and Englewood neighborhoods.

In the Roscoe Village neighborhood, the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) will acquire land and construct a small park near the intersection of Addison St. and Lincoln Ave. The property, at 3538-50 N. Lincoln Ave., is the former site of a gas station. The triangle-shaped property is located in an area of Lakeview that is underserved by parkland.

The plan calls for closing off Ravenswood Ave. adjacent to the site on the west. The property will be purchased from CorLands for $650,000, which includes up to $113,000 for environmental remediation.

The City's Open Space Impact Fee fund will help finance a portion of the project. Under the program, all new large-scale residential projects are assessed an Open Space Impact Fee based on the number and size of proposed housing units. The impact fees are used to ensure that adequate public open space and recreational facilities are available to serve residents of those new developments.