More than 100 Lawndale residents participated in the Lawndale Corridor Development Initiative this summer to plan for future development in their neighborhood.
This summer, Chicago Ald. Sharon Dixon (24th Ward), in partnership with MPC and Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), hosted the Lawndale Corridor Development Initiative (CDI), a series of three community meetings in Lawndale. The goal was to identify community interests and concerns about development in the neighborhood on Chicago ’s Southwest Side, and work with architects and developers to create realistic concept plans for new development.
More than 100 Lawndale residents participated in the meetings, which featured representatives from the Chicago Dept. of Planning and Development, MPC, and CMAP. At the first meeting, on June 24, participants identified commercial and residential goals for Lawndale. These included the need for more retail and grocery stores in the neighborhood, as well as a strong desire for mixed-use development along Ogden Avenue. Residents also expressed interest in preserving and celebrating the historic character of Lawndale, planting more trees, and creating new public spaces and recreational facilities in the neighborhood.
The second meeting, on July 8, focused on a block exercise that allowed community members to refine their goals for the neighborhood by creating development proposals by using aerial maps and wood blocks. Residents worked with architects to design their ideal development for each of three sites. A financial advisor was on hand to determine financial feasibility for each development. Once a group of residents agreed on a plan that was economically realistic, the architects sketched out the proposal so the residents could see what the size and shape of the development might look like in their neighborhood.
At the third and final meeting, on July 22, a panel of development and finance professionals discussed the six design schemes created during the July 8 meeting. Panel members highlighted the strengths and opportunities of each design and answered community resident’s questions about development and design. Following the panel discussion, residents expressed their goals for development in Lawndale and voted on their top three concepts.
As they did at the June 24 meeting, residents stressed the need for increased retail and food options in Lawndale. Unlike the first meeting, where 56 percent of the attendees wanted development along Ogden Avenue to be three stories or less, 60 percent of those at the third meeting wanted four to six stories. It is more financially viable for developers to construct buildings with more homes to share in the construction costs, thereby keeping the individual unit costs more affordable. This shift in desired building heights shows residents gained a deeper understanding of the type of development that Lawndale can realistically expect to see in the future. At the end of the CDI meetings, approximately 75 percent of the attendees felt they had more clarity about how real estate development works and what type of buildings they want to see in Lawndale.
“The Lawndale CDI was an opportunity for the community to share dreams about what they’d like to see happen in North Lawndale. Because of this process, the community now has a document that says, ‘This is what we’d like to see happen in our neighborhood.’” said Kim Jackson, executive director of Lawndale Christian Development Corporation and a member of the Lawndale CDI Steering Committee. The data, discussions, interviews, and recommendations from all three meetings will be compiled into a final report the community can use to show potential developers the residents’ vision for the future of Lawndale.
The full report, Vision Driving Development , is available online by clicking here.
For more information on the Lawndale CDI, please use our comments form, directly below this article. Or, if you prefer, please contact Karin Sommer at ksommer@metroplanning.org or 312-863-6044.