With a nod from Ald. Michele Smith (43rd) and a nudge from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday signed off on what is expected to be the final proposal for the long-debated Webster Square project.

Designs for the project envision a residential, retail and commercial redevelopment of the three-acre Lincoln Park Hospital campus. The hospital, located at the intersection of Geneva Terrace, Lincoln Avenue and Webster Avenue, has been closed since 2008.

Since being introduced more than two years ago, the plan has polarized neighbors, alternately receiving both strong support and staunch opposition. At the center of the argument is the 20,000-square-foot grocery store that Sandz Development — the firm leading the project — intends to build along Webster Avenue on the site’s southern parcel. Some see it as a potential boost to the area’s tax rolls, while others believe that the store will only add to Lincoln Park’s already-dire traffic and parking situation.

The debate reached a boiling point earlier this year, when the proposal passed the City Council just days before then-Ald. Vi Daley stepped down from her post. Shortly after, another former alderman, Marty Oberman, and a group of neighbors filed a lawsuit against the firm and the city charging that the approved rezoning of the site was illegal.

Ald. Smith, who took office in the North Side ward in May, ran her campaign largely on a promise that she would fight to curb the plan if it failed to garner significant approval from residents. A February ballot referendum in the 43rd Ward showed that 56.7 percent of the 307 constituents in the area surrounding the hospital site were opposed to the retail portion of the proposal.

With a little help from Emanuel, the alderman announced last month that the firm had agreed to another round of concessions that would “significantly address traffic concerns on Webster Street and mitigate the development’s impact on the surrounding community.”

At the hearing, Smith introduced the new plan as the final draft of the Webster Square redevelopment.

The changes in the proposal included a pull back on the development’s office space to make way for 75 rental units, adding to the 120 condominiums already planned, and a reworked plan for truck deliveries to the grocery store, which would reroute larger trucks onto the busier Lincoln Avenue. Under the new proposal, a 40-unit apartment building on Grant Place would also be replaced by eight single-family row houses.

Smith said that the changes were made “in an overall effort to reduce the intensity of use on the site.”

“Residential use is something that is more preferred by our community, and is a less intense use than commercial office use,” she said.

Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) congratulated Smith on striking the deal.

“Being alderman for such a short time, that was a lot of negotiating to do,” he said.

As always, resident opinion of the redevelopment at the meeting was mixed.

Resident and community organizer Allan Mellis spoke in support of the revised proposal, adding that he hoped the project’s rental units would be marketed “with affordable rents for senior citizens who would like to stay in the neighborhood.”

Bonnie Shapiro, a resident who has spoken out against the proposal several times, stuck to her guns on the current reiteration of the plan.

Shapiro said she still felt that the plan was “out of sync with the neighborhood,” adding that she resented “how it was started, developed and agreed on by the city of Chicago.”

Smith said that the revised proposal was expected to be heard at the city’s next zoning committee meeting; from there, it will travel to City Council for a final vote.

“Do you think you’ve finally brought it home?” Commissioner George Migala asked Smith.

“I believe that we are done,” she replied.

After the meeting, Smith said that, though it was impossible to please everyone, she felt that her office had made an honest try at finding the proposal’s middle ground. She noted that, in addition to moving the project forward, the final approval of the proposal would also trigger Oberman to drop the charges in his lawsuit against the city and Sandz.

“Everyone appreciates that this was a very difficult situation,” said Smith, “and that under a lot of difficult circumstances, we did the best we could.”

David Chernoff is the director of planning and zoning with the Mid-North Association, a resident group that is listed as a plaintiff in Oberman’s suit. The group was among those that rallied to have the grocery store removed from the redevelopment plan.

Thought the store remained a part of Webster Square, Chernoff admitted that the proposal probably wasn’t getting any sweeter.

“Mid-North is not happy with it, but it’s the best we can get under the circumstances,” he said.

He noted that moving the loading area to Lincoln Avenue was a plus, but suggested that the addition of the rental units was not done “out of the goodness of the developer’s heart.”

“That’s not a gift or a concession, that’s just a recognition of the realities of the real estate market these days,” he said.

As for Smith, Chernoff said that the alderman’s efforts did not go unnoticed.

“She fought very hard, and this was the best she could do,” he said. “We are very much appreciative.”

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By ChicagoPJS from Lincoln Park
Posted: 11/22/2011 1:27 PM

Fresh Market

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By Eric Dams from Lincoln Park
Posted: 11/19/2011 11:53 AM

What is the name of the grocery store?

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By Boyee from Mid-North
Posted: 09/23/2011 1:06 PM

While this revised plan is significantly better than the original plan, they must ensure that the row houses are built so they fit into the community. The best revision in this plan is the halving of the office space and providing senior housing units that were part of the original plan. I am still against the adding of two stories around the high rise's mechanical penthouse (which currently only takes up 1/3 of the 10 story building's roof).

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By ChicagoPJS from Lincoln Park
Posted: 09/22/2011 10:42 AM

Pretty sweet planning for Mid North. Let's elect an Alderman based on one issue and one issue alone. Good luck over the next 3.5 years.