Plans take new look at Northerly Island
With 2016 dreams dashed, what should become of Meigs site?
A month after Mayor Daley's Olympic team washed out in the race for the 2016 Games, the tide has shifted as planners focus on Northerly Island's long-term place in the lakefront landscape.
Before Chicago lost to Rio de Janeiro in the Olympic contest, the Park District was eyeing how to develop the 91-acre man-made island east of Soldier Field, while making the former site of Meigs Field a temporary home for Olympic venues for beach volleyball, the canoe and kayak slalom courses and even an observation point for sailing contests.
(Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)
Today, Chicago Park District officials are holding a public meeting downtown to unveil a series of sketches for the site, pen-to-paper ideas that will serve as a conversation starter, says Gia Biagi, director of planning and development for the Chicago Park District. "We're not holding up a particular concept," she said. "But looking at what are the components of a great park."
The Park District hired a design team that includes Studio Gang Architects, best known for the Aqua Building at the Lakeshore East site near downtown, to sketch out ideas -- though officials did not release the cost of the work.
One thought is to extend the swimming and beach areas on the eastern edge of the island. Another is to carve out portions of the "island" -- really a peninsula -- creating bays or coves or even inland waterways.
A migratory bird sanctuary is likely, because the lakeshore is a favorite resting and dining space as the animals move north and south, with walking and exercise paths nearby so that city-dwellers and tourists alike could take it in.
Planners are considering how to use the old airport's terminal and there is even talk about re-calibrating Charter One Pavilion -- or creating another venue -- to blend with the area's surroundings, a move that could set the stage for controversy.
Erma Tranter, head of watchdog group Friends of the Parks, reiterated the group's position that the temporary pavilion should be removed, allowing the peninsula to retain its natural aesthetic.
Asked about Tranter's concerns, Biagi said: "We want to talk about all those things."
The Park District's focus is in step with Daley, who has said he'd like the area to be an oasis filled with wildflowers, prairie grasses and trees.
"Now that the Olympics aren't coming here in 2016, the plan still needs to move forward," said Bob O'Neill, who helped organize Tuesday's meeting and is the president of the non-profit Grant Park Advisory Council.