Rediscovering Blue Island

• By Joanna Trotter
• July 31, 2006

Bordering Chicago ’s southwest side, Blue Island has struggled with downtown disinvestment for many years, a common malady in many older communities. But today, as development trends show a renewed interest in the region’s core, Blue Island is in a prime position to benefit from this new economic growth.

While Blue Island is only 4.5 square miles, it offers several unique development opportunities, including over 200 acres of available industrial land matched with unparalleled transportation access. The city is conveniently located along the Cal Sag Channel, boasts three commuter rail lines, with 80 trains stopping each day, and 150 freight trains running through the town daily.

The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), a nonprofit policy and research organization, recognized the city’s unique qualities and reached out to local officials in 2005 to undertake a community-wide planning effort, resulting in the “ Blue Island Plan for Economic Development .” The plan outlines strategies to facilitate transit and cargo-oriented development. In 2006, Blue Island asked the Metropolitan Planning Council to help advance these goals through retail, zoning, and urban design strategies.

As part of its Community Building Initiative, MPC organized a task force of volunteers, chaired by Thomas Kirschbraun of Jones Lang LaSalle, that met for two days in June to help move the city’s plans forward.

As outlined in its report “ Blue Island Reaches Next Crossroads ,” the task force's recommendations included improving the zoning review process to create more predictability for developers, updating the zoning code to provide for more local design control and a wider variety of uses, and allowing multi-family housing to support the commercial and transit corridors. The task force encouraged the City to direct retail development along 119th Street on the 130-acres of city-owned land and also suggested that industrial development is appropriate in this northern portion of the city. New big box retail development along 119th Street in Blue Island will compliment the plans that include a Target and Home Depot across the street in Chicago. Given Chicago’s recent living wage ordinance for this industry, these retailers may find Blue Island to be an attractive alternative with its close proximity to Chicago.

The task force outlined ways to strengthen the uptown area by enhancing its identity, improving structures through code enforcement, and attracting new commuter-serving businesses near the Metra stop and community-oriented services to the northern portion of the district. Task force members recommended tax increment financing, land swaps, and converting underutilized parking into viable retail as tools to invigorate the transit stations and city center. Finally, recognizing a lack of representation from Latino and African American residents in the planning process, the task force recommended a number of ways to better engage the community and ensure that the city’s redevelopment is reflective and inclusive of its diverse population.

MPC’s task force members Thomas Kirschbraun, Valerie Kretchmer, and Bernard Loyd presented the group’s recommendations to Blue Island’s City Council on July 25, where they emphasized the city must recognize its own value and be prepared to ask for what it wants from developers. While forgotten for many years, Blue Island is being rediscovered. Armed with a vision and the tools to implement it, Blue Island will be prepared for this new investment and able to ensure that it is in line city goals. After the presentation, Mayor Peloquin stated that Blue Island now knows where it is heading for the next ten years and how it is going to get there.

MPC would like to thank it funders, Chase, Grand Victoria Foundation, the Allstate Foundation, Washington Mutual, Bank of America, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and McCormick Tribune Foundation, for making this work possible.

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