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Lincoln Yards plan heads to committee, but local alderman still mulling proposal

Project ‘nowhere near ready for any hearings,’ Hopkins says

By Patrick Butler

When Ald. Brian Hopkins [2nd] told a standing-room-only crowd at a July 18 community meeting that “this is only the beginning” and a decision on the Lincoln Yards project “will take as long as it will take,” he wasn’t kidding.

Hopkins said last week he’s still sifting through the proposal and hasn’t yet made up his mind whether to approve what the aspiring developers have described as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” – even though Sterling Bay’s plans have already been introduced to the Chicago City Council’s Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards.

Lincoln Yards SOM Sterling Bay

That kind of end-run is considered unusual since the zoning committee normally doesn’t accept development proposals still under review by the local alderman.

In a letter to zoning committee chairman Ald. Daniel Solis [25th], Hopkins talked about the longstanding tradition to generally give local aldermen the right to decide what does – and doesn’t – get built in their wards.

The usual procedure is for would-be developers not to file proposals with the city until those proposals have been run by the local alderman – in this case, Hopkins.

“Sterling Bay chose to file anyway,” Ald. Hopkins told the Chicago Tribune. “I wanted to reiterate my objection to proceeding now with any hearings. It’s nowhere near ready for any hearings.”

Hopkins said that, while he can’t block a developer like Sterling Bay from filing a development plan without going through his aldermanic office, he can direct the company to meet with “stakeholder groups” in and around the impacted property.



He also has promised his constituents another community meeting to discuss the proposal further.

The first community meeting was attended by 500-600 people who got their first look at the plans for the $5 billion project, which covers more than 50 acres and includes 8 million square feet of office space, 7,500 residential units, more than 100 retail stores, 1,000 hotel rooms, a 20,000-seat soccer stadium, new bridge, and several different forms of public transit.

In another attempt to solicit feedback, Ald. Hopkins created a survey that was completed by more than 450 respondents, almost 14% of whom said they “hated” the proposed planned development. More than 18% of survey takers said they loved the proposal, while about 22% were neutral, 24% did not care for it and 21% thought it was “good.”

Over 54% of the people who responded to the survey were not part of a neighborhood association.

The survey showed that the most important factor for respondents was improvements to transportation infrastructure and additional parks and green space.

 

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