Alderman Vasquez and Park District Seek Feedback on Design and Programming of West Edgewater Neighborhood Park Before the 1st of June

At the Zoom community meeting held on the 13th of May Alderman Vasquez brought together representatives from his office, representatives from the Chicago Park District, and community members from the WEAR association and other neighborhood associations to discuss the status of the West Edgewater neighborhood park.

With the official designation of Park 599 from the Chicago Park District the as yet to be named neighborhood park in the West Edgewater/Andersonville community is now finally much closer to becoming a reality some 20 years after the closing of the Edgewater Medical Center.

The future park occupies approximately 33% of the original Edgewater Hospital site and is located just west of Anderson Point, a adaptive reuse luxury apartment complex located in the former Edgewater Hospital buildings along 5700 N Ashland Ave.

Sarah White, Park 599’s project manager, updated the attendees on the project’s status and a shared 2 new concepts for the design of Park 599 (see images below). The 3 main points I took from her presentation are as follows: (1) the city is working on the acquisition of the site, (2) the site design and approvals will require about 6 months (project is presently in schematic design), and, (3) once approved the “bidding, permitting, and construction” could be completed in 6-12 months.

Following her presentation the meeting was opened up for comments, questions, and discussion. There were quite a few that Alderman Vasquez, members of his staff, and park district representatives took turns fielding. The topics ranged from such matters as local infrastructure around the park, park cost, park programing, park naming, and community input and participation. For a full account of the presentation and the questions and discussions that followed, view the recording of the meeting at the link https://fb.watch/5IReXbwTNz/.

That said in summary I would say the questions and discussion indicate there remains a strong desire in the community for the opportunity to participate in the designing and programing of the park and there also remains a strong desire in the community for the park to include a playground area and a dog friendly area.

To provide feedback on the current design and programing email Sarah White at cpdpark599@gmail.com. I would also suggest CCing the email to the 40th Ward Office at info@40thward.org. Feedback should be sent before the 1st of June (my apologies for the delay in posting this update).

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Community Discussion of Plans for West Edgewater Park Development

My apologies for the late notice.

WEAR is hosting a Zoom discussion with Ald. Andre Vasquez and representatives from the Chicago Park District to discuss the West Edgewater neighborhood park (Park 599) tomorrow evening, May 13th, 2021 at 6 pm. Acording to WEAR board member Ruthie Williams the event will be “an opportunity to learn about the proposed timeline and talk through two preliminary concepts for the park” and to collect community feedback.

To register for the event follow the link.

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Community Meeting: MCZ Seeking to Add 14 Apartments and Eliminate 4 Parking Spaces

According to an announcement Alderman Patrick O’Connor posted in his Facebook Page on March 19th, 2019, the current developer of the former Edgewater Medical Center, MCZ Development, “is seeking a Planned Development amendment.” According to the alderman the amendment would increase the project’s dwelling units from 141 to 155 and decrease its parking spaces from 78 to 74.

The community will have an opportunity to learn more about the proposed amendment at a public meeting at St. Gregory’s, 1609 W. Gregory St., on Thursday, April 4, at 7:00 p.m. At the meeting, where the community may ask questions about the proposed amendment and the project in general, the alderman states there should be representatives of MCZ and various city departments.

To read the specific text Alderman O’Connor posted follow this link.

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Demolition Status Community Meeting

Progress this summer with the demolition of the Edgewater Medical Center buildings currently occupying the future home of the Andersonville/West Edgewater neighborhood park has been erratic.

In a recent email to constituents Alderman O’Connor (40th Ward) announced there will be a community meeting on the status of the project.  According to him the project developer, MCZ Development, will brief the community on its fully approved remediation plan and take questions. In addition, according to Alderman O’Connor, “MCZ will be joined by their environmental contractors [Alessio and Sons and EPS Environmental] to make sure that there is a detailed understanding of the process moving forward.”

If you wish to read Alderman O’Connor’s email to the community see the three JPEGs below or click on this link, where there is also additional information about the project.

Finally the community meeting will be held at 7:30 PM on Thursday, July 10th, at the Rogers Park Montessori School, located at 1800 W Balmoral Ave, Chicago, Illinois 60640.

UPDATE :: August 11, 2017 :: Here is a link to Linze Rice‘s DNAinfo article on the meeting. 

 

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A Few More Steps Forward

On February 19th, Alderman O’Connor announced on his website “significant progress with respect to the Edgewater Medical Center Redevelopment”. Here is the link — http://www.aldermanoconnor.com/featured-news/edgewater-medical-center/ (you need to scroll down the page in order to read the Feb. 19th announcement since Alderman O’Connor has made two additional announcements regarding EMC redevelopment since Feb. 19th: TIF expenses; summary of WEAR March 31st community forum).

On March 31st, West Edgewater Area Residents (WEAR) hosted a forum at the Experimental Sound Studio.  At the forum Todd Mullen of MCZ Development spoke about the current plans MCZ Development has for the redevelopment of the Edgewater Medical Center.  Here is the link to The Experimental Sound Studio’s streaming of the evening — https://youtu.be/G5Ne0DwRhTA (one hour thirty minutes of unedited video).

On April 4th, Mark Schipper (@MyTimesProse) wrote a thorough account of the March 31st forum in his DNAinfo Chicago piece, “Rats And Asbestos Need To Go Before Edgewater Medical Center Is Demolished” (again, Alderman O’Connor has summary of the forum at the previous provided link).

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Affordable LGBTQ Senior Housing: Another Possibility for the EMC Site

Vea Cleary, who proposed locating an affordable housing center for LGBTQ seniors on the EMC site last May, would like to meet with community members who are interested in helping shape the second iteration of her proposal.

A long time resident of Edgewater and a master’s candidate in interior design at Harrington College of Design, Vea’s initial plan would add to the Kadin Building, the former nurses’s residence, which is located at 1625 W Edgewater Ave. Like the Waveland Partners’ proposal for the site, her plan also includes a neighborhood park. For more details about her idea follow this link to a PDF copy of her site plan (12 MB file).

At last Wednesday night’s meeting, Alderman O’Connor indicated the city would be receptive to a project like Vea’s were a developer to be identified.

Vea will be at the Coffee Studio (5628 N Clark St) this Saturday the 16th from 11 A.M. to 2 P.M. If you are interested in contributing ideas and/or feedback to the next version, or you just want to learn more about her proposal, she invites you to come by.

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Alderman O’Connor Hosting Public Meeting to Discuss Future Rosehill Nature Preserve

This evening, February 11th, Alderman O’Connor is hosting a public meeting to discuss the future 21-acre nature preserve that will be located on former Rosehill Cemetery property near the corner of Western and Petersen (5801 N Western Ave). At last Wednesday’s meeting Alderman O’Connor mentioned that at this meeting community members will have the opportunity to volunteer to be on the advisory board for this future nature preserve. The Chicago Park District designation for this future site is Park 568. Sorry for the late notice.

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A Revised Proposal for the Edgewater Medical Center Site

For the moment rather than of providing yet another account of Alderman O’Connor’s public meeting in the St. Gregory cafeteria last night, we are going list a series of links to other accounts of the evening.

• Eilene Spear’s account for the Edgeville Buzz, Residents Pack Medical Center Meeting, is at this link.
• Benjamin Woodard’ s account for DNAinfo, Proposal to Put Housing, Park at Edgewater Hospital Heads to City, is at this link.
• Joe Ruppel’s article, Edgewater Medical Center Plan Ready for Review, is in The Red Line Project, an online publication of DePaul University College of Communication undergraduate journalism students in Mike Reilley’s Online Journalism II course.
• Jonathan Greig’s piece, Shuttered Edgewater Medical Center Could be Site of 250 Residences, Commercial Space and Park, is in the online publication Medill Reports – Chicago. Medill Reports is written and produced by graduate journalism students at Northwestern University’s Medill School.
• Maurine Berens’ summary of the evening is on the WEAR Facebook page. Maurine is WEAR’s Treasurer. On the WEAR Facebook page there is additional information about other topics that were touched on during the meeting (Mellin Playlot, METRA station, and Rosehill Nature Preserve).

  • Benjamin Woodard also has an article for DNAinfo about the proposed METRA stop, the development of which will have an effect on the success of the redeveloped EMC site.

More information will follow in the coming days, weeks, and months. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and who was able to spread the word about the meeting. Working together in a constructive manner the Andersonville/West Edgewater Community has  accomplished quite a significant achievement. Alderman O’Connor himself acknowledged this at the meeting when he said, after presenting the revised proposal, “the neighborhood can take credit.” Thank you everyone.

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