Southeast Lake View Neighbors

Lakeshore Revetment Packet

Skyline “LV Neighbors question lakefront shoreline project”, Felicia Dechter, January 31, 2002.

Chicago Sun-Times “Lakefront rehab plan gets rocky reception”, Nancy Moffett, February 4, 2002.

Windy City Times “Chipping Away at History”, Demetra Soter, March 6, 2002.

Chicago Tribune “No to the Alcatraz Look”, Linnet Myers, March 7, 2002.

Inside “Alcatraz look feared at Chicago lakefront”, Matthew Meisinger, March 26, 2002.

Chicago Free Press “Lakeview residents object to city plan for Belmont Rocks”, Gary Barlow, March 20, 2002

Lerner Skyline “Revetment project postponed”, Felicia Dechter, March 21, 2002.

Report of March 11, 2002 SELVN meeting, Bob Clarke, President

Lakeview Citizens’ Council letter to Army Corps of Engineers, March 13, 2002.

Contact Information.

Skyline “LV Neighbors question lakefront shoreline project”, Felicia Dechter, January 31, 2002

LV neighbors question lakefront shoreline project

BY FELICIA DECHTER Staff Writer

Tell Bob Clarke, president of the South East Lake View Neighbors (SELVN), to go jump in the lake come summer, and he might tell you he can’t. Not in his neighborhood anyway. It’s not that the water’s too cold, it’s just that Clarke feels he won’t have easy access to the water.

That’s because the northern half of the lakefront stretch between Diversey and Belmont is scheduled to be under construction beginning in May, as part of the city’s Shoreline Protection Project, which in that particular area consists of the reconstruction of 3,300 linear feet of shoreline. Improvements will include the construction of the step stone revetment at an estimated cost of $19 million, according to the city’s Web site. Construction is expected to be completed in 2003.

In total, the project will replace 8 miles of lakefront revetment and cost $301 million. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, which designed the project, will contribute an estimated $171.7 mil lion, and the city and the Park District together will kick in about $129.3 million. Of the entire amount, about $42 million will be contributed by the state.

Clarke said his main concerns about the project came about after hearing of the most recent plan at a Jan. 22 meeting at the Merlo Library in Lake View.

Those concerns are the access points into the water, the protection of the area’s trees, and where the trucks will be coming into the park. The steps (rather than the old rocks), which will go into the water are too high, Clarke said, and you can’t go up and down them.

“It is very clear, you cannot climb the steps with a bike or baby carriage, they need ramps to go up and down,” Clarke said. “That’s the only way to enjoy the lake. Those steps aren’t made for walkin.’”

Clarke said the four zig-zag access ramps will be a challenge for the able bodied, much less the disabled.

And as for the lakefront trees, Clarke said he’s concerned about the enforcement of their protection. “The trees are worth thousands of dollars,” he said, “and they need to be protected. They need extra care. They say they’re watching them very carefully, but trees can be damaged, and you don’t know it for three or four years. We want a significant penalty.

In addition to those main concerns, Clarke said, a berm, a pile of rocks jutting into the lake, will possibly be built. He liked the concept, which allows for people to sit and access the water. Yet he’d like the berm to be bigger than the proposed 50-foot length. He’d also like to see the old-rocks rubble used to build the bigger berm.

“They didn’t quite say it can and will be done,” Clarke said of the plan. “We want something like this, but we want it to be bigger, much bigger.”

“These are several thousand stones that were brought in from Indiana in the I 930s. We want them used in some way.”

Jessica Rio, spokeswoman for the city’s Department of the Environment, said that after input from the community at the meeting, the berm issue has been turned back to the engineers to figure out where to put it and how big it will be. The existing stones will be reused, she said, and the next step is making a recommendation for its location.

As for the other concerns, Rio said the bike path will remain open the entire time and the work will begin on the north end first and then the south end.

The four universal-access ramps, one at each end and two somewhere in the middle, were designed in zig zagging pattern so people can go between levels smoothly with a stroller~ wheelchair or walking.

The step heights on the revetment will be of differing heights but all be (sic) less than 2 feet, Rio said, and it would be a trade-off to make them shorter.

“You’d have to make the revetment wider and bigger;’ she said. There are only a few options. Either make the revetment taller or extend out further or both.”

Rio also said the trees will be monitored by the Park District and the Army Corp of Engineers, who will work with the contractor, and follow very specific rules. Trucks, she said, will come in off a temporary access road built off of Lake Shore Drive.

An additional concern was the matter of ladders for swimmers. Rio said every 100 feet, bright yellow painted ladder rungs will be visible from the water for swimmers to climb up on. Rio said the goal of the project is to enhance access to the lake. ‘There will be four points at which you can easily get from one level to the next at the universal access point,” she said. “It will all make for a much better use than now.

The city’s shoreline is man-made for the most part, constructed on landfill averaging 1,500 feet wide. It was filled in throughout the last century to provide additional land and recreation areas, and the existing shoreline protection was built between 1910 and 1931, the city’s Web site says, and comprised of wood pile cribs filled with stones in the shape of steps called revetments. The revetments have outlived their design life, and no longer provide proper protection against erosion and damage.

Major reconstruction of collapsing structures is needed to preserve the integrity of the shoreline, and the project is designed to prevent further damage and loss of valuable land, infrastructure and facilities. The recommended step-stone plan will also maintain safe access to the shoreline, while preserving its historical and aesthetic value, according to the city. If no action were taken, land and facility loss would be rapid and severe and could include loss of sections of Lake Shore Drive and the South Water Purification Plant.

Charlotte Newfeld, co-chair of a committee on revetment assigned by the Lincoln Park Advisory Council, says she realizes that funds are limited for the project and she has to be realistic, but that the Corp and the Park District need to go back to the drawing board.

“We were all fooled into thinking that there’d be 12-14 inches in between the steps so you could go up and down them as easily as before,” Newfeld said. “Now the access to the lake was denied in many ways.

“And there’s still no way to get out of the water if you fall in. There are some rungs of a ladder, but go in and you’re dead. The average person can’t heave themselves over the cement.” Newfled (sic) also complained about the wheelchair access.

‘The city of Chicago has to have access to their lake,” she said.

As far as the trees go, Newfeld said there are groves of cottonwood trees along the lakefront that have been abused. She said the Department of the Environment needs to be more strident, and if anybody abuses the trees, they should pay a costly penalty. And, she also feels the old limestone rocks should be reused. In addition, she says the area is a focal point for many groups of people, and it should be user-friendly.

‘The lakefront should be free, clear and accessible to all the citizens,” Newfeld said. “If you build a revetment that denies access, you re doing wrong and you’ve got to be fought. It’s a key thing to have the lakefront free and accessible to the people of the city of Chicago. If you don’t make it accessible, it’s not a friendly place.”

Leslie Combs, district director with U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D 9th), who originally became involved with the project to specifically work on ramp details, said all parties concerned worked together to make sure the lakefront was especially accessible for people in wheelchairs. Combs was surprised to hear there were complaints about the ramps, and Combs said the Mayor’s Office of Disabilities worked hand-in-hand with the Park District to create a design that they were “proud and happy to do” and “thrilled with.”

“There are pieces the community is still working with the Park District on,” Combs said when asked about the trees and the steps. Combs had left the meeting, however, be fore those issues were discussed.

Balancing the needs to prevent erosion and flooding with the public having a natural experience with the water is difficult, says Joel Brammeier, habitat coordinator for the Lake Michigan Federation.

“It’s the mission of the city’s Department of the Environment to build shoreline accessibility and protect Lake Shore Drive against flooding, and the parks against flooding and erosion,” Brammeier said. “But the general citizen’s accessibility is important in a way that encourages a natural experience with the lake. I think it’s important the shoreline provides as much as possible for the citizens to enjoy it.”

However, Brammeier said, the area is a spot where lake access has never really been emphasized, and where previously, it hasn’t been the easiest or safest to get down to the lake.

But it should be, and any projects done on the city’s lakefront should have the go-ahead nod of approval from the neighborhood, according to community leaders. “My point to the city and Corp of Engineers is this,” SELVN’s Clarke said. ‘This is our front yard you’re entering with bulldozers, and we’re concerned about how it’s done and where we live

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Chicago Sun-Times “Lakefront rehab plan gets rocky reception”, Nancy Moffett, February 4, 2002

A decade of repairs to eight miles of Lake Michigan’s shoreline will continue with a new phase of the $301 million project this spring when work starts in May on a piece L between Belmont and Diversey.

The $19 million reconstruction of 3,300 feet will begin on the northern half of the stretch. Construction, which will extend into next year, will involve a temporary cut into Lake Shore Drive to let trucks onto the site.

The Belmont-to-Diversey segment has sparked a community battle to save the rocky aesthetic of the shoreline, what neighbors see as the comfortable charm of crumbling limestone blocks brought up from Indiana in the 1920s.

“Our position is: S-O-S—Save Our Stones,” said Robert Clark, president of the South East Lake View Neighbors group. “This is a matter of intense concern to this part of the city. We regard this as our front yard.”

“It’s kind of like the coast of Brittany,” said Charlotte Newfeld, parks and green space chairwoman of the Lake View Citizens Council. “They have to do with the feel of connection with the lake.”

“We would love to preserve these old rocks,” Clark said.

However, the Army Corps of Engineers, which is leading this revetment phase, is “explicit; this cannot be done,” Clark said.

Instead, said the corps and the Chicago Park District, concrete steps and a metal retaining wall will have to be built to protect Lake Shore Drive from storms.

The North Side battle is similar to a two year community effort to save the limestone at Promontory Point in Burnham Harbor. That project is now on hold.

Keeping the limestone there “was something we really wanted, but the Park District wouldn’t hear about it” at first, said Kay Clement, who organized the initial community meetings to protest plans for the all-concrete protection wall at Promontory Point. Last fall, the task force reached a compromise with the Park District that included some limestone and two swimming areas, but Clement resigned and four other members followed when the deal was not accepted by community hard-liners.

The Promontory work ‘was scheduled to start this spring. I can tell you it’s not going to start this spring,” Park Supt. David Doig said. “We’re not going to build something that the community doesn’t support.”

Lake View community groups also fought to preserve the lakefront’s limestone charms. At a meeting last month, the Park District and the Corps of Engineers offered some concessions.

Although some critics said the meeting was held without enough warning, “They came up with something that was a surprise to everybody” on the “crucial question” of the rocks, Clark said.

It was to use some of the old rocks to build a “projection” into the lake, he said. “Between 4,000 and 6,000 stones will have to be examined to see which ones can be reused,” Clark said.

Officials also bowed in some measure on the steps.

“What we’ve been able to do here is reduce the size of the steps,” said Marcia Jimenez, acting city environment commissioner, a third partner in the revetment projects.

The steps will each be “under 2 feet,” shorter than similar ones at Montrose, Jimenez said.

That’s still high enough that it would take Paul Bunyan to negotiate, Clark said.

“Nobody could use the steps as what we would call steps. They could be used by the really fit as a kind of cliff-climbing operation,” he said.

“So we sacrificed usability” for a design the engineers insisted on to protect the drive from wave and storm damage, he said. The community also wanted more access to the water than in the original plan. Jimenez said a design team is working toward “a total of four access points to the structure itself.”

The planners also have agreed to spread old rocks at the base of the new supporting wall and to give the wall a rougher finish to make it look “more stone like,” Doig said.

Information on the history and progress of the shoreline project is on the Web at www.cityofchicago.org/environment.

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Windy City Times “Chipping Away at History”, Demetra Soter, March 6, 2002

CHIPPING AWAY AT HISTORY

BELMONT ROCKS LIMESTONE PART OF LAKEFRONT BEAUTY

Reflections by Demetra Soter

The City of Chicago is known for its lakefront – more than 20 miles of parks and beaches that are open to the public, to be appreciated by all. Lake Michigan makes our city a wonderful place to live with spectacu8lar views and an open, welcoming feeling that few big cities have.

For years, the lakefront between Diversey and Belmont, and from Belmont to Montrose was a special part of that. The limestone rocks along the water gave us a fun place to sit in the sun, to climb, to enjoy the views and to cool off on hot summer days.

But now, north of Belmont, that has been taken away. The rocks have been replaced by a concrete wall – a straight, sterile barrier.

ROCKS FROM COVER

A concrete barrier to the lake totally defies everything the lakefront is meant to be. This new barrier belongs on the docks of New York City, not the lakefront of Chicago.

This year, the same thing is planned for the Diversey to Belmont rocks. Now that we know what’s at stake, we should do what we can to keep that area as special as it is today.

At 7:30 p.m., Monday, March 11 at the Wellington Avenue Church, 615 W. Wellington Ave., the Southeast Lakeview Neighbors is having a meeting on the project. Everyone is welcome to come.

We know there are problems with erosion that have to be dealt with. And we know the city has worke3 very hard on this. But now that we realize it’s not as good as it could be, I hope the city and community groups can work together toward the best plan possible.

Many of us weren’t aware of the lakefront plan until the area north of Belmont Harbor was finished. When it first opened, I was shocked and saddened. Such a quaint, beautiful area was turned into a concrete embankment. On the rocks, people used to come, find their own nook or cranny, and feel they were in a private place even when lots of other people were there, too. The rocks are too spectacular to just grind up and toss aside.

I’m sure there would be many architects and landscape architects who would be proud to work with our city in saving this section of lakefront. And I believe the city cares enough so that they won’t ignore this issue. The whole lakefront is just too valuable to allow the Army Corps of Engineers to build something that doesn’t even let people sit on the edge and dangle their feet in the water.

As a pediatrician at Cook County Hospital, I’m also concerned about the safety of the new revetment—particularly when it comes to children. As it is now, if a child should accidentally fall in, it would be incredibly difficult to get that child out. By the time an adult found one of the built-in ladder flings, made their way down into the water and then went over to the child, it could very well be too late. I also know how important exercise is to the health of all of us—young and old. As it is, many of us—including children— spend too much time sitting by computers and in front of television sets. Swimming is excellent exercise, and some thing we want to encourage. Why would we build a barrier to that? If we now have to make changes to the lakefront, we should encourage swimming instead of discouraging it, as the new wall now does.

Chicago beaches are crowded and their rules are restrictive. If the areas that have been limestone (sic) are being redesigned, it’d be great if we could establish more swimming areas, particularly for those who are serious about the sport.

Since we have the opportunity to make improvements, now is the time to do it. I hope that we can all work together to make the lakefront the best it can be.

If you’d like to join the effort, Robert Clarke, who is president at the group, can be reached at shangol@aol.com and Derek West, who is chairman of the group’s Lakefront Protection Committee, can be reached at e-mail chicagolakefront@mindspring.com

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Chicago Tribune “No to the Alcatraz Look”, Linnet Myers, March 7, 2002

March 7, 2002

By Linnet Myers
Linnet Myers lives in Chicago
Published March 7, 2002

Right here, in front of our eyes, we're missing the chance of a lifetime.

We have a chance--and $300 million--to refurbish eight miles of Chicago lakefront for the first time in decades. That could mean imaginative waterfront designs that complement the city, connecting the city's striking skylines with the water's edge.

We're not just wasting that opportunity. We're making things worse.

Recently the city has been ripping up miles of limestone tiers that were built along the lake between 1910 and the 1930s. In their place, a forbidding concrete-and-steel structure is going up.

Instead of leading gently to the water, the revetment steps downward toward a promenade level and ends with a sharp, steel-lined drop into the lake. It no longer connects Chicagoans with Lake Michigan, a beautiful natural asset. It cuts people off.

This wasn't intended. City officials worked valiantly to improve an earlier plan that would've lined the shore with rubble and chain-link fences. The new revetment is certainly better than that. But engineers built it with a specific goal in mind: anti-erosion. It wasn't designed for the hundreds of thousands who love the lakefront.

One community activist has dubbed it "the Alcatraz look," while others liken it to "an airport runway."

This spring, a 3,300-foot stretch is slated for construction between Diversey and Belmont Avenues.

But when a meeting was held on the project some six weeks ago, nobody came.

Perhaps it isn't fair to say nobody. A half-dozen representatives from the city's Department of Environment showed up, and another half-dozen from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Chicago Park District officials were there too.

Lucky thing the bureaucrats could make it. Otherwise there would've been a lot of empty chairs.

Only a couple of community leaders managed to attend. No notices had appeared in community papers. No signs were posted. The office of the area's state representative, Sara Feigenholtz, wasn't told until the day of the meeting. There wasn't even a sign on the door.

Clearly this isn't the way to handle something so crucial. It's time for the city, the Park District and the Corps--all partners in the project--to partner with the people as well.

Understandably, officials may be gun-shy from experiences in Hyde Park, where hundreds of angry residents protested the plan.

Elsewhere, the Corps has been criticized for "overengineering"--and in Hyde Park, professors from the prestigious University of Chicago concluded that the lakefront revetment is overbuilt as well.

If so, perhaps a revised design could be smaller--and cheaper.

In some places--including Hyde Park's Promontory Point and the Diversey stretch--there's still time to come up with plans that would make this city proud.

In his 1909 plan, Daniel Burnham left a legacy for Chicago when he designed a lakefront "forever open, clear and free."

The new structure is to last up to 100 years, creating a shoreline for generations to come. Chicago's leaders have a chance to leave a legacy of their own. Let's hope they rise to the challenge.

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Inside “Alcatraz look feared at Chicago lakefront”, Matthew Meisinger, March 26, 2002

The cherished jagged rock shoreline between Belmont end Diversey avenues, which has been subject to erosion since the 1950s, may be replaced by flat concrete as soon as this summer. Many Lake View residents are not pleased with the aesthetics of the new design, which some describe as the ‘Alcatraz look.” They are also uneasy about the removal of large shade trees and the construction traffic that will be necessary for the rebuilding project.

At a heated community meeting March 11 at the Wellington Avenue Church, at 615 W Wellington Ave., residents expressed their concerns.

“As it is now, the lakeshore is organic where land meets the water,” said Lake View resident Greg Lane. “They want to replace that with a sterile design in concrete.

The jagged rock shoreline was created between 1910 and 1931 using woodpile cribs filled with stones to act as steps, or revetments, to protect the shoreline. In the 1910s, the wood began to collapse and allowed park land to wash down into Lake Michigan.

When the lowest recorded lake water levels occurred in 1964, the wood became exposed and began to rot, which furthered shoreline erosion.

Beginning in the 1970s, the City of Chicago, the Chicago Park District and the Army Corps of Engineers worked together to determine if federal funding was needed to protect the shoreline. The plan was presented to Congress in 1994, and eight miles of the lakefront, including the stretch from Belmont to Diversey as well as the nearly completed Montrose Ave. shore, were slated for rebuilding.

The reconstruction design presented by the city consists of vertical steel sheet piles that would replace the damaged wood cribs, and 20-inch high concrete steps that would replace the jagged limestone that now covers the area.

Two universal access ramps, which allow wheelchair access to the lakefront, will also be part of the design. However, what to do with the removed rocks is still under discussion. Ideas include using them to build a semi-circular Greco Roman amphitheater or an adaptation of the Neolithic Monuments of Stonehenge for the Lake View lakefront. Total construction may require two years, and will entail closing the lakefront walking paths. However, bicycle paths will remain open.

The total cost of the project is $301 million, according to the City of Chicago. The Army Corps of Engineers will contribute $171.7 millions, while the City of Chicago and the Park District will add $129.3 million.

The Chicago Department of Natural Resources will he responsible for the remaining $42 million. The north section of the lakefront south of Belmont will be completed first. Possibly as early as this summer.

At last Monday’s meeting, residents raised their voices over the plans once again. Some said that the flat design of the new steps will be tempting for skateboarders, which may chip the concrete edges over time. Another worry discussed was that when water is low, this proposed sea wall will cut off access to the lake.

Lane described the design as a “runway with nothing to slow down children or animals, which the limestones do naturally.” He also said that he had jumped into the lake on the South Side to test some toe beams (sic) already put in by the city. Toe beams are beams of increasing height that are marked along the shoreline so that swimmers can easily find them when they want to return to shore. “Anyone who falls in is a goner,” Lane said. “The beams are nearly impossible to find.” [Note: the reporter has confused the toe berm issue with the revetment safety ladder issue].

The city did have people on hand to answer questions about the trees and traffic issues. Brian Williquette, District Forester for the Chicago Park District, added that all removed trees would be replaced. The 20 older trees, mostly situated south of the Indian monument, may cost up to $300 apiece to replace. “They will be measured and as many younger trees as necessary to fill the void will be planted,” Williquette said.

And George Black of the Chicago Department of Transportation was present to discuss construction traffic issues. According to the city’s plan, all trucks will enter the site from North Ave., and will leave via Irving Park Rd. They will be restricted to work between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.

“The trucks will not affect Lake Shore Drive,” Black said. “We will monitor the site daily and impose heavy fines on workers who do not follow our restrictions.”

Still Ald. Bernie Hansen (44^th) stated at the meeting [Note: Ald. Hansen did not attend this meeting, nor the prior two community meetings on the revetment issue] that he wants to see a more detailed plan,” and is awaiting more recommendations from the community.

“We are currently reviewing residents’ concerns and we will fine tune the plan the best we can by the next meeting,” Hansen said.

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Chicago Free Press “Lakeview residents object to city plan for Belmont Rocks”, Gary Barlow, March 20, 2002

BY GARY BARLOW

Staff writer

About 150 Lakeview residents packed Wellington Avenue United Church of Christ March 11 to voice near-unanimous disapproval of the design for the renovation of Lake Michigan’s shoreline on Chicago’s North Side.

The residents, who turned out for a public meeting organized by the South East Lake View Neighbors, heard officials with the Chicago Department of the Environment and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers explain modifications engineers have made to the original proposal to replace the crumbling limestone revetment.

“We have made adjustments and retrofits based on what we’ve heard (from the community),” said Marcia Jimenez, acting director of the CDE. “We’ve heard you and believe we’ve done everything we can to fully meet your requests.

The plan calls for an all-concrete revetment. In the Lakeview stretch of shoreline, from Belmont Harbor to Diversey Harbor, the new revetment would replace the large limestone rocks that have prevented shoreline erosion and flooding for decades.

Those rocks became a gay landmark over the past three decades as Lakeview became home to one of the largest gay communities in the country. South of Belmont Harbor, gay-themed art and graffiti color a long stretch of the rocks.

As with the current revetment, the top of the new revetment would be level with the adjoining parkland. The revetment would also include a series of stepped-down levels resembling the current revetment.

But the new structure would not step down to the water as the current one does, leaving a concrete wall that could be as tall as two to five feet, depending on the lake’s water levels.

Since January, CDE and Corps officials, responding to community dissatisfaction with that design, have added two toe berms, to be composed of salvaged limestone blocks from the current revetment, that would step down into the water.

Those toe berms would be 100 feet each and resemble the current rocks, stepping down gradually and allowing swimmers’ access to the water. But residents at the meeting said the two additions to a shoreline that stretches more than 3,000 feet between Belmont and Diversey were not enough.

Residents also expressed concern about safety, alleging that a person who falls into the water would have difficulty getting out of the water because of the new revetment’s design.

Jimenez said the design could include ladders to allow people to climb out of the water and said engineers are also investigating placing solar-powered call buttons along the revetment. She called safety issues “a very serious matter” and said Corps engineers are still looking at the issue.

Construction was to begin in April but has been delayed. City and Corps officials said the current plan calls for contract bids to go out in May, with construction beginning in June.

Text Box: HANSEN SAID he hasn’t made a decision on asking the city or the Corps to hold off. But angry residents demanded an additional delay until January 2003, the projected date for completion of the renovation of the -~ revetment north of Belmont Harbor. The residents said beginning the new project before January would result in an unacceptably large portion of the lakefront being inaccessible to the public this year.

Bob Clarke, president of SELVN, said residents seem to be united in their dissatisfaction with the new plan.

“We took three show-of-hand votes, Clarke said. “It’s been pretty unanimous.” Clarke said residents also want to await the results of a private architectural study being conducted on behalf of Hyde Park residents dissatisfied with similar plans for the renovation of the shoreline revetment in their neighborhood. Dissatisfaction with the original city and Corps proposal in Hyde Park resulted in a delay of that project until later this year. Clarke said if officials grant SELVN members’ request for a delay of the Belmont-to-Diversey work until January the Hyde Park study could point the way to a design that is more satisfactory to Lakeview residents.

Following the SELVN meeting, some residents have begun circulating petitions requesting a delay of the construction. Clarke said Ald. Bernie Hansen (44th Ward) has also been asked to step in and request a delay.

Hansen said he’s concerned about the project but hasn’t made a decision on asking Chicago and Corps officials to hold off on construction. “I’ve asked the people involved to meet with me,” Hansen said. “I’ll be meeting with them to see what we can do.”

Jessica Rio, of the Chicago Department of the Environment, said project officials are evaluating the public response to the proposal.

“We are considering what we heard,” Rio said, adding that a decision on whether to delay the project will be made by sometime in May.

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Lerner Skyline “Revetment project postponed”, Felicia Dechter, March 21, 2002

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Windy City Times “Belmont Rocks controversy continues”, Traci Baim, March 13, 2002

Windy City Times 13 March 2002

Belmont Rocks controversy continues

The proposed renovations for the Chicago lakefront between Belmont and Diversey received a vote of no confidence from more than 100 community members gathered at a forum Monday night at Wellington Avenue Church.

Representatives of the city’s environmental, parks and transportation departments gave a presentation about the plans, which have been developed via years of similar community meetings and engineering studies.

The primary opposition appears to be about the basic design of cement tiers, replacing the existing (and crumbling) limestone, similar to what has already taken place between Belmont and Montrose.

At the meeting, which was sponsored by the South East Lake View Neighbors group, individuals voiced concerns on a range of subjects, including the safety of the design, the loss of trees, and handicapped access.

But the primary and overriding concern, which received a unanimous vote, was against the basic cement wall design. There were representatives at the meeting from -the Hyde Park group which has received a grant to study alternatives to the basic city designs. People at Monday’s meeting voiced support for delaying the Belmont project until at least the fall, when the Hyde Park study should be complete, and until more of the project north of Belmont is finished.

The city’s representatives showed new designs at the meeting which took into consideration previous concerns about the loss of limestone. The new designs for more the more than 3,000 feet of lakefront call for two 100-foot areas where limestone would be set just in front of the cement structure and visible most of the year. The project also Z calls for creation of more visible separations between the cement blocks, which would more closely mimic the old block design. However, for environmental purposes (to prevent erosion and flooding), the original limestone rocks are not a viable solution for the lakefront, city representatives said. They also emphasized that the normal aging process would further colorize the cement, and that the new cement would have more of a rough pattern in it to create a design effect. — Tracy Baim

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Report of March 11, 2002 SELVN meeting, Bob Clarke, President

The March 11, 2002 SELVN meeting was expanded to serve as a community forum on the subject of the lakefront revetment. Marcia Jimenez spoke for the government agencies represented; over 110 audience members signed in (seven or eight from Hyde Park, the rest from Lakeview).

In the course of the two-hour meeting, we took three straw polls. Results in all three votes were overwhelming, indeed unanimous expressions of support for the following views:

1) that the revetment work scheduled to being early this Spring between Belmont and Diversey should be put on hold, at least until Fall 2002, or until all work north of Belmont is completed, such that people have normal access to the lake and restored landscaping throughout that area before anything begins south of Belmont. This would also leave time to hear the results of the Driehaus engineering study and would correspond to the moratorium agreed to for the 54-57th street stretch by Commissioner Abolt;

2) that the central concern of those present is the installation of the concrete step revetment as a replacement for the current rocky shoreline: this new design is widely thought to be ugly and possibly unsafe; it needs much more modification that has so far been offered (despite the good-faith response from Department of the Environment to earlier concerns);

3) that the two 100-foot stone toe berms proposed by the agencies fall far short of what must be minimally provided if and when some version of the step design is implemented; many present thought such berms should run the whole 3300-foot length of the Belmont-Diversey stretch.

In addition, strong concerns were voiced about both the possible loss of older irreplaceable trees close to the shoreline and hazards to children and others who might be more likely to fall into the water and find it difficult to get out than with the old revetment structures.

At our April 22 meeting, we are expected to inform SELVN members on the follow-up to these expressions of local opinion.