The Obama Presidential Center this month will face its first big hurdle to getting approved for construction in the city’s south side, when the Chicago Plan Commission meets to consider the $500 million, 223-foot high facility that has drawn opposition from local activists.
On May 17, officials will vote on several agenda items related to the Center, including whether to enter into a long-term lease for 19.3 park acres to the Obama Foundation. They will also vote on road closures and infrastructure projects, which are expected to cost city taxpayers $175 million.
The vote is the first by a municipal body, and it will conclude a year of community meetings between the Obama Foundation and residents of the lower-income neighborhood who have worried the project will gentrify the historically black area and force out lifelong residents.
What initially started out as a library has morphed into a 20-acre private “center,” and some environmentalists and historians are unhappy with the Foundation’s plans to swoop in and take over a national historic place.
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The Obama Foundation originally said it would house a presidential library on the property and vowed to have the National Archives oversee the facility because of its placement on public land. But that’s no longer the case, and some are balking at the change in plans.
The plan is for the property to include a sledding hill, sports center, women’s garden, and a museum featuring historic items from the civil rights movement.
Democratic Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former White House chief of staff, announced Wednesday the Chicago Public Library system will debut a new space inside Obama’s 200-foot structure in 2021.
If approved on May 17, these measures will head to the Chicago City Council for final approval. But that’s when it will get more tricky.
The Obama Foundation will also have to get approval from the Environmental Protection Agency under the National Environmental Policy Act and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.
The first verification process will determine if the Obama Presidential Center would have “adverse effects” on Jackson Park. The State Historic Preservation Office will ask “official consulting parties” to provide opinions.
The last decision regarding Jackson Park land took place in 2012 and federal officials decided the land should not be touched.
