35th Street, McKinley Park Plan

Table of Contents Executive Summary Introduction • The Community • The Project • The Team • The Process Community Profile • Our Research • Principles • Demographics • 35th Street Engagement • Our Process • What We Heard • Lessons Learned Design • Design Concepts • Toolkit • Metrics Moving Forward • Presenting the Concepts • Policy and Program Implications • Metrics Conclusion • Endnotes • Team Members Appendix 35th Street Redesign, McKinley Park

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This plan is intentionally developed to shape and steer development efforts on the 35th Street corridor in McKinley Park through a community-driven planning process. Undertaken during summer 2023, students from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s (UIC) Master of City Design (MCD) and Master of Urban Planning and Policy (MUPP) partnered with the McKinley Park Development Council (MPDC), Bridgeport Alliance, Coalition For A Better Chinese American Community (CBCAC), Design Workshop, and community residents and other stakeholders to co-create feasible proposals for 35th Street between Leavitt and Ashland.

The 35th Street Corridor Plan builds upon the previous summer 2022 collaboration between UIC and the McKinley Park Development Council (MPDC), which proposed three public infrastructure projects aimed at improving the civic realm along 35th Street and within the larger McKinley Park. This plan is available at the following link.

Traversing the center of McKinley Park, 35th Street is a major connector linking the neighborhood with the surrounding communities on the southwest side of Chicago. It also serves as one of only two throughways cutting across Bubbly Creek located on the neighborhood’s eastern boundary. As one of McKinley Park’s key corridors, 35th Street has undergone significant social and physical change over the years, yet has remained foundational to McKinley Park’s identity rooted in the resiliency and commitment of community members.

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Executive Summary

To further a community-centered vision articulating a vibrant 35th Street, we co-conceived a design concept following design and land use proposals for the corridor’s future. The concept promotes the idea of 35th Street becoming a prime meeting place for McKinley Park residents and the “Neighborhood Main Street.” The new street design promotes accessibility and safe mobility for pedestrians and cyclists. It also expands dining and shopping options, as well as comfortable outdoor spaces for people to gather and celebrate their community.

This corridor plan details our planning process, community engagement methods, resulting design concepts, and finally the recommendations for implementation. It leverages existing assets, celebrates the neighborhood’s cultural diversity, and furthers vibrancy and inclusivity.

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Introduction

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The community As a working-class neighborhood on the southwest side of Chicago, McKinley Park has had a rich history marked by its residential nature, cultural diversity, and opportunity. Historically the neighborhood has been home to immigrants, starting with Irish immigrants who populated the neighborhood in 1836.

Following waves of immigration over the years, today Hispanic/Latino/a/x residents account for over half of the neighborhood’s population, while those with roots in Asia make up almost one-thirds. In this sense, McKinley Park’s cultural diversity is intrinsic to the nature of the resident community and thus rightly celebrated in the redesign of 35th Street.

In 2004, the zoning designation of 35th Street in McKinley Park was ‘downzoned’ to primarily residential use, diminishing commercial activity and stifling small business development on the street. Not surprisingly, this development slowly turned 35th Street into a quiet corridor characterized by a diverse range of older, single-family homes, many of which were built in the late 19th century, and a high vacancy and turnover rate among the small and local place-based businesses. WIth lower foot traffic, there has historically been little impetus to add community gathering or green open spaces on the street for community residents and users.

However, a new zoning designation, B2-3 or Neighborhood Mixed-Use District zoning, was proposed at city hall for 35th Street in spring 2023. The designation would change the existing ‘residential-only’ land use and instead permit commercial use on the first floor of abutting buildings, while allowing residential usages on the upper floors. With the ‘upzoning’ of 35th Street, underutilized spaces can potentially be reactivated through new commercial retail development, including small businesses providing everyday goods and services for residents. The upzoning of 35th Street may even be a significant turning point for McKinley Park; it offers a chance for us to collectively reenvision the future 35th Street, while leveraging existing community assets.

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The Project Socioeconomic shifts and the changing policy environment in and around McKinley Park have catalyzed a renewed interest in the neighborhood’s future and potential planning opportunities. In 2021, for instance, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) completed a neighborhood plan for McKinley Park in partnership with community members and MPDC. Among several goals aimed at shaping the future of McKinley Park, the 35th Street corridor was recognized as an important node for pedestrian-oriented commercial development. The CMAP plan recommended the creation of a “main street experience” on 35th Street along with the activation of firstfloor retail spaces and community-rooted placemaking initiatives.

With this goal in mind, MPDC and UIC partnered together in the summer of 2022 to engage with the McKinley Park community and co-design strategic interventions for the area around 35th Street. This work resulted in the 35th Street Reimagined Plan focused upon three key sites that were so identified due to their potential for catalyzing opportunities in the neighborhood.

Our project aims to build upon prior work accomplished in the 35th Reimagined Plan. This includes refining conceptual design of the 35th Street corridor from Leavitt to Ashland. While using community feedback from 2022, we also engaged residents, business owners, and other stakeholders in the summer of 2023 to further understand their perspectives and ideas for the future of 35th Street. In terms of practical knowledge, we learned from our instructors how practitioners leverage community-driven design processes to improve the quality of the built environment, and especially the public realm, for everyone.

With revamped zoning and increasing community interest in positioning 35th Street as the nexus of McKinley Park, the 35th Street Corridor Plan is launching at an opportune time to direct future development and investment around this important corridor. We envision the 35th Street corridor as McKinley Park’s vibrant, community-oriented main street anchored by strong local businesses, multimodal connectivity, and resilient infrastructure.

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The Team The McKinley Park Development Council (MPDC) is a volunteer group of McKinley Park residents, teachers, and business owners working to collectively foster economic, cultural and social development through the connection of residents, institutions and enterprises for the benefit of the McKinley Park neighborhood.

The Master of City Design (MCD) program, housed within the College of Urban Planning and Policy (CUPPA), teaches how to plan for designing great cities via diligent civic improvements at the intermediate urban scale.

Studios are co-taught by core program faculty working closely with leading urban designers and professional practitioners. This plan was co-produced by the 2022-2023 MCD cohort and two MUPP (Master of Urban Planning and Policy) students supervised by MCD faculty Dr.’s April Jackson and Sevin Yildiz, MCD affiliate instructor Merov Argov, and team members from the international consulting firm Design Workshop.

Design Workshop is an international design studio working across the fields of landscape architecture, urban design, planning, economics and engagement.

Design Workshop led the formal Charrette process in McKinley Park and, under their mentorship, students learned how to design and implement purposeful community engagement strategies.

Bridgeport Alliance is a grassroots organization of local residents and institutions committed to engaging in the decision making that impacts their community. Bridgeport Alliance supported our outreach efforts and collaboration with the neighboring Bridgeport community.

Coalition For A Better Chinese American Community (CBCAC) unites ​​ the resources of member organizations and individual members to empower Chinese American communities in Greater Chicago. CBCAC promoted our engagement activities among its members and contributed essential translation services at our Charrette event and final meeting to reach community members who speak Mandarin and Cantonese.

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3.

The third and fourth phases of our work involved engaging and collaborating with community members in McKinley Park. In order to dig deeper into our background research and initial discussions with MPDC and community stakeholders, we organized a range of engagement events over four days at different neighborhood sites where community members gather, play, and work. This phase also included a charrette – a “community engagement event where stakeholders and decision makers work alongside experts to co-develop solutions to built environment problems using design”. At the charrette, we delivered three design alternatives to the community for feedback, while creatively sparking conversations around public realm improvements. Following the charrette, we analyzed community members’ insights from the various events.

The Process

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In the first phase of the corridor planning process for 35th Street, we reviewed past plans, including the McKinley Park Neighborhood Plan and the 35th Reimagined Plan. To understand existing conditions on 35th Street, we gathered and analyzed historical, socioeconomic, economic, environmental, housing, land use, and transportation data.

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2.

During our second phase, MPDC members and representatives from the 12th Ward led the team on a walking tour of 35th Street and notable assets within McKinley Park. This provided further context for our research and community engagement.

In addition, we received guidance from prominent urban designers and planning practitioners, including the Design Workshop team, on best practices for community engagement and facilitation for public events.

4.

Based on input and findings from the community engagement process, we refined our initial design concepts to better align with the desires of community members in our final phase. This culminated in a codesigned concept for 35th Street, and we presented the plan at a showcase event one week after the charrette. During this meeting, we solicited additional feedback from the community to incorporate into the plan document.

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Community Profile

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Our Research In order to best imagine McKinley Park and 35th St.’s future, we began the plan-making process with thorough background research that utilized publicly-available community data as well as in-depth, open-ended interviews with McKinley Park residents. The takeaways from this work are outlined in the following section. As we collected data, we also began to brainstorm engagement activities that could potentially help us understand the actual lived experience of different community members and, thereby, improve and enrich the overall quality of our research.

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Principles As we gathered and analyzed various kinds of information via past plans and demographic and economic data for McKinley Park and 35th Street, we found that the corridor has tremendous potential to unite the neighborhood together and meet the interests of its diverse population. This understanding led us to a set of basic principles guiding the subsequent work.

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Respect the neighborhood’s heritage, and cultural identity.

Engage and collaborate with the local community.

Prioritize pedestrian and bikers safety through protected bike lanes, proper street lighting and active storefronts.

Create opportunities for diverse small businesses, local entrepreneurship, and cultural amenities.

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Demographics

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Population and Age

Race and Ethnicity

16,000 residents. Average household size of 2.9 (compared to 2.4 for Chicago)

The neighborhood is diverse, with a different ethnic makeup relative to the City of Chicago. As of 2021 the neighborhood was about 55% Hispanic or Latino, 28% Asian, and 15% White. In the past 5 years there has been a change in ethnic diversity in the neighborhood.

AGE

2017

2021

Under 5 years

6.78%

4.10%

5 to 19 years

20.01%

18.73%

20 to 34 years

24.79%

22.52%

35 to 54 years

28.03%

29.65%

55 to 64 years

10.39%

14.46%

65 to 84 years

13.90%

15.72%

Population Characteristics

McKinley Park

City of Chicago

Race & Ethnicity

2017

2021

White (Non-Hispanic)

60.57%

14.51%

Total Population

15,923

2,746,388

Hispanic or Latino (of Any Race)

16.92%

54.59%

Total Households

5,538

1,142,725

Black (Non-Hispanic)

1.04%

1.45%

Avg. Household Size

2.9

2.4

Asian (Non-Hispanic)

19.70%

28.40%

% Population Change, 2010-20

2.0

1.9

Other/Multiple Races (NonHispanic)

0.81%

1.04%

% Population Change, 2000-20

-0.2

-5.2

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Languages Spoken

Income and Employment

The majority of residents speak another language exclusively or in addition to English. 45% of McKinley Park residents speak Spanish as their primary language, while 25% speak a Chinese language.

McKinley Park’s median income is $61,814, which compares to a Chicago average of $58,200. Additionally, McKinley Park’s unemployment rate is 6.0%, which compares favorably to Chicago’s 8.1%.

Percent

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English Only

27.5

Spanish

44.6

Chinese

24.9

Other Asian Languages

0.7

Arabic

0.2

Unspecified/ Other

2.1

Sector

Accommodation and Food Service Health care Manufacturing Retail Trade Administration

Count

852 732 581 554 529 35th Street Redesign, McKinley Park

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Household type

Commuting and Moblty Patterns

“Single Family, Detached” and “2 Units” housing stock accounts for 75.3% of all of McKinley Park household types, which is far greater than the percentage both categories account for of the Chicago housing stock (40.4%).

McKinley Park residents account for the majority of commuters through McKinley Park (6,483 vs. 5,514 outsiders passing through or into McKinley Park). The majority (51.4%) of McKinley Park residents drive alone to work, but 25% take public transportation and 4% walk or bike. While 62.3% of commutes are for distances less than ten miles, 16.7% are for distances of over 50 miles.

Lives & Works in McKinley Park (184) Travels To McKinley Park 5,514

Travels From McKinley Park 6,483

Single family, detached Single family, attached 2 units 3-4 units 5-9 units 10-19 units

Mckinley Park

City Of Chicago

Count

Percent

Count

Percent

Single Family, Detached

2,201

38.4%

317,493

26.1%

Single Family, Attached

264

4.6%

42,026

3.5%

2 Units

2,113

36.9%

173,819

14.3%

3 or 4 Units

758

13.2%

180,336

14.85

5 to 9 Units

212

3.7%

140,855

11.6%

10 to 19 Units

94

1.6%

51,552

4.2%

Housing Type (2016-2020)

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35th Street.

Land Use and Zoning Exisiting Zoning on 35th Street

While a broad spectrum of existing land uses characterize 35th Street, current zoning only allows for residential use along 35th street in future developments. This means that any new construction or rehabilitation of existing structures must be residential in nature, with no other activity allowed unless a specific variance for each lot is granted by the city authorities. This has decreased vibrancy along the corridor, as many storefronts and lots now sit empty despite the community’s interest in shopping and starting businesses on 35th Street.

A new zoning proposal, slated to be introduced to Chicago City Council in 2023, encourages opportunities for mixed-use and business development on 35th Street.

Exisiting Zoning on 35th Street

Residential Commercial Institutional Industrial Open Spaces

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35th Street.

Paved Surfaces and Tree Cover

Impervious Surfaces and Land Cover

35th Street has a deficit of tree coverage as compared to the rest of McKinley Park (15%), which, itself, is even lower than the Chicago average (19%). Another aspect of concern is that the majority of 35th St. is impervious surface, such as asphalt and concrete, which increases the local temperature.

According to the topographic wetness index (TWI), high impermeability leads to water ponding after rainfall and increases the risk of flooding.

While McKinley Park is a beautiful, much-loved destination for residents and visitors, the neighborhood technically falls short of CMAP’s recommended 4 acres of park access per 1000 residents, with only about 2.6 acres per 1000 residents. Outside of visiting the neighborhood’s namesake park, very little natural area is accessible to the McKinley Park neighborhood due to natural and infrastructural barriers, namely the South Branch of the Chicago River to the north and Bubbly Creek to the east.

Flood Risk Map

W 35th St

S Ashland Ave

S Leavitt St

S Western Blvd

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35th Street.

Traffic Vehcular Traffic Direction

35th Street has an average daily traffic volume of around 7,250 vehicles, traffic worsened by a noticeable amount of truck traffic, with the majority of the traffic coming from the east. Traffic in either direction along 35th Street largely diverts to Ashland Avenue to the east and Western Avenue to the west.

SS Ashland Ave Ave Ashland

Marshfield SS Marshfield Ave Ave

SS Paulina Ave St Paulina

SS Hermtage Ave Hermitage Ave

Wood SS Wood St. St

SS Honore St. St Honore

SS Walcott Ave Ave Walcott

Winchester Ave SSWnchester Ave

S Damen Ave

S Damen Ave

S Ashland Ave

S Leavitt St

S Western Blvd

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SS Seeley Ave Ave Seeley

Road Accidents Hotspot. 2018-2023

SS Hoyne Ave Ave Hoyne

Leavitt SS Leavtt St. St

SSBell AveAve Bell

SSOaley Ave Ave Oakley

SS Claremont Ave Ave Claremont

SS Western Blvd Blvd Western

Hotspot intersections for accidents on 35th Street include Western Ave. and 35th Street, the six-corner intersection of Damen Avenue, Archer Avenue, and 35th Street, and Ashland Avenue and 35th Street

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35th Street.

Transect Analysis ​​​​35th St. can unfortunately be characterized by a lack of vitality relative to neighborhoods nearby. In addition, small to medium sized lots and a variety of uses (residential, retail, and commercial) typify the 35th Street corridor. McKinley Park’s distinct character and its relationship to adjacent neighborhoods is illustrated in the transect analysis.

The neighborhood’s sub-urban “vibe” coupled with its location at the geographic center of Chicago is a key asset that must be built upon by ensuring that residents can move in, out, and within McKinley Park safely and easily.

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35th Street.

Block Face analysis ​​​This illustration demonstrates typical building elevations and uses along the corridor. Key patterns include concentrations of recreational space near the library and in a tactical urbanist skate park, and a mix of twoand three-flat housing with ground floor retail.

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35th Street.

S Damen Ave

S Leavitt St

S Ashland Ave

S Damen Ave

S Western Blvd S Leavitt St

There is a noticeable and growing storefront vacancy rate on 35th St. Only two vacant lots are owned by the City and, thereby, more easily correctable.

Map of retail stores on 35th Street

S Western Blvd

Limited concentration of food and beverage stores. 35th Street mainly consists of service-based retailers, with 33 unique service based retail storefronts. Additionally, there are twelve food and beverage businesses and three gas stations.

• Service Based Retail - 33 • F&B - 12 • Gas Stations - 3 • Institutions - 2

S Western Blvd

Retail Analysis

Retail vacant store fronts

S Ashland Ave

S Western Blvd

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35th Street.

Building Condition 23 buildings on 35th Street are rated as either in “Fair” or “Poor” condition, according to research conducted by the Great Cities Institute, UIC, and the Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative.

“Fair” and “Poor” ratings are defined by at least early signs of wear and tear and failure of at least some building subcomponents (e.g. broken windows, doors, and stairs).

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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

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Our Process

After conducting preliminary research, the UIC team conceived a plan comprising intentional engagement activities designed to understand residents’ experiences and interests around 35th Street. The activities centered upon the plan principles described earlier of inclusivity, increased mobility for pedestrians and bikers, enhanced community interaction and engagement, and local enterprise promotion. Invaluable insights shared by community members in the engagement phase would then help guide the codesign process.

Our team conducted a series of engagement events spanning a little over one week. These included popup activities, community and business owner surveys, focus groups, and the design charrette. Throughout three days of pop-up events, we engaged with over 75 people at three sites in the community. Our design charrette wrapped up the week, with roughly 50 people in attendance.

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Pop-Up Events (3 days) Approximately 75 people engaged

Charrette Approximately 50 people engaged

Community + Business Surveys Approximately 115 people engaged

Personal Interviews 2-3 realtors engaged

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Around 117 community members participated in our Community Design Survey and 16 business owners along 35th Street, provided feedback via our business owners survey. Overall, about 250 community members engaged with the planning process.

Our engagement process began with conversations with MPDC representatives, whose lived experience and personal stories added depth to our initial research on McKinley Park’s current conditions. We structured our engagement strategy based on priorities identified for 35th Street in last year’s 35th Street Reimagined Plan. Our design team produced outreach materials, fliers, and business cards, which were distributed across the community in advance of our engagements in order to inform and invite McKinley Park community members, in addition to MPDC’s communication efforts through its contact lists.

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Pop-up Events The pop-up events centered around five activity boards set up in different locations in the neighborhood during Memorial Day weekend. We printed and displayed foam core boards introducing ourselves and the overall project, as well as showcasing our activities. All activity boards comprised the same message in three languages: English, Spanish, and Mandarin.

The purpose of these initial engagement activities (each set to be completed within a minute or two) was to obtain residents’ input on 35th Street improvement priorities.

In addition, at each event we offered physical and digital methods to complete our Community Design Survey. The pop-ups occurred at the McKinley Park Fieldhouse, the Community Play Garden’s block party event, and the McKinley Park Memorial Day Parade.

At the park and play garden, we also offered lawn games, while team members traversed other areas of the park with moving boards and surveys to connect with more visitors and draw attention to our pop-up.

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Charrette The community charrette was held on Wednesday, May 31 between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. at the former Pochos restaurant storefront on 35th Street. We intentionally laid out the space with a welcome table upon entry and activity boards spaced out to provide ample room for groups rotating through each activity station. Community members were asked to sign in on an iPad upon entry and were given a name tag and index card to catalog their thoughts and observations during the evening.

Before the formal presentation, guests browsed our boards from the pop-ups and offered feedback, while enjoying food from Chile Toreado, a favorite local restaurant.

A children’s table was also arranged at an appropriate location to engage young children attending the event with families.

The formal presentation comprised short introductions by MPDC, Design Workshop, and UIC students. The team outlined the adopted planning process, background research, review of past plans, community engagement, and our three preliminary design concepts.

Next, we divided community members into four groups to visit the four activity stations, each station consisting of between one and four thoughtfully devised activities designed to be completed in fifteen minute intervals.

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These activities’ purpose was to provide us with the community’s aspirations and preferences for one of the following themes: transportation, cultural identity, business development opportunities, and placemaking. Afterwards, the night wrapped up with a brief discussion of takeaways from the activities, including report-outs from community members and facilitators. The feedback we received was vital to shaping our final design concepts.

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Our Methods Community Design Survey Between May 27 and May 31, 2023, 117 people completed the Community Design survey, which was intended to identify the community’s improvement priorities for 35th Street. The survey consisted of a set of nineteen questions that could be answered on paper or via Google Forms in English, Spanish, or Mandarin (see details in Appendix). The first nine questions were most relevant to areas of improvement for 35th Street, covering the topics of mobility, placemaking, amenities, and small businesses.

All questions were optional. At the end of the survey, we included two questions about the respondent’s familiarity with MPDC, a third question then asked for the respondent’s email address if they wanted to be added to MPDC’s mailing list, and the final question asked for the respondent’s phone number if they wanted to be contacted for an interview.

The link to the digital version of the survey was printed on our fliers and business cards for community members to complete on their own devices (see outreach materials above).

At all engagement events, we offered iPads for participants who preferred to complete the survey on our devices. Additionally, community members were given the chance to complete the physical surveys, which were available in all three languages, at the popups and Charrette.

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Business Survey We conducted a small business owner survey by going door-to-door to businesses along 35th Street. Through our outreach, we received 16 responses from business owners. The survey contained 23 questions probing key opportunities and challenges for owning and operating a small business on 35th Street. The survey was designed to take about 10-15 minutes to complete. Questions were included to understand more about their business, including questions about their customer bases and the ways they attract new customers, along with questions to pinpoint present business challenges and the neighborhood improvements they would prioritize.

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Engagement Activities We received 240 responses across our engagement activities, which helped us understand residents’ lived experiences in McKinley Park and 35th Street improvement priorities. We purposefully designed our activities to be straightforward, quick, interesting, and fun, with the overarching goal of engaging people of all ages, abilities, languages, and possessing no more than a general understanding of planning work. At each event, Spanish and Mandarin speakers were available to engage participants who were more comfortable communicating in these languages.

1. Wishing Wall In order to spark community members’ creativity, a “wishing wall” activity was utilized to invite participants to answer the prompt “I believe that McKinley Park/35th Street can become…” with a self-drawn image. The notes were exhibited on the site’s windows during the event to attract community members passing by the charrette location and inspire charrette participants.

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2. Self Portrait Wall To indulge all the age groups equally in pop-up events, an art event was planned in collaboration with local artists to help kids draw self portraits to be assembled in an installation titled- ‘We are McKinley Park’ that showcased their unique identity and culture in a personalized manner. This installation at the Charrette venue’s windows helped encourage more participation.

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3. Dot Polling As a method of gathering collective feedback, dot polling invites participants to vote on categories, mark responses across a spectrum, or simply place dots on a map. Two different dot polling exercises were deployed across the pop-up events and charrette.

3a. Business Type Board To gauge the type of retail businesses that community members want on 35th Street, a board with sixteen categories of businesses was featured. Participants were asked to rank their top four types of businesses that they desired to be added to 35th Street. Participants were given a set of four colored stickers, each of which corresponded to a ranking of their top four priorities. They then added their stickers to their selected categories on the board.

3b. Enhancing Cultural Identity Board The cultural identity board was created to understand how 35th Street could better reflect the cultural diversity of McKinley Park.

Images of eight unique examples of potential multicultural features, such as multilingual signage, community gateways, and murals, were displayed on the board. Participants opined on each feature’s potential to be used to enhance the cultural identity on 35th Street by voting with sticker for one of three options under each category: like, neutral, or dislike.

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4. Route Mapping Activity Participants were asked to track their origin and destination through a small exercise during engagement where they had to draw their route representing the mode of transportation shown by different colors on a transparent sheet overlaid on the map of McKinley Park. This study showed significant destinations and the routes people take in their everyday routine from work to home or vice versa. We sought to understand the role of 35th Street in community members’ commute patterns across all transportation modes. The responses helped us understand community members’ mode choices and usage of 35th Street for mobility.

5. Asset Based Activities 5a. Asset finding Board Two asset-finding boards were used at our pop-up activities. The first board asked, “What is your favorite place on 35th Street?”, while the second board stated, “Where do you go the most on 35th Street?”. Participants placed dot stickers and post-it notes on a map of 35th Street in response to the questions.

The responses gave us a sense of the most meaningful and frequented locations on 35th Street to the community. The boards also inspired participants to reflectively consider their use of 35th Street as they went through the pop-up boards. These boards traveled with us across locations displaying ongoing results and garnered high participation rates.

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The “What is your favorite place on 35th Street?” board had 69 identifiable locations, while the “Where do you go to the most on 35th Street?” collected 120 identifiable locations over the course of the engagement process. (See appendix for full list of polls).

5b. Identifying Areas of Improvement Board To determine the main areas of improvement on 35th Street, we utilized a board to ask “What can be better about 35th Street?”. The board illustrated a map of the entire corridor with images of different aspects of the built environment at eye level. This activity encouraged participants to plot spots on 35th Street needing improvement on the board’s map and, secondarily, post sticky notes with detailed the exact improvements needed.

6. Investment Prioritization Our participatory budgeting activity invited participants to prioritize different types of improvements on 35th Street. By giving each participant 10 coins, each representing $10,000 in value (for a total of $100,000), they chose between five topic areas to invest their ‘monies.’ The five categories were as follows: • Beautifying 35th Street • Adding Public Spaces • Supporting Small Businesses • Restoring Buildings • Transportation Improvement 64

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Participants had the option of investing as few or as many coins as they wished within each category. Sheets of paper were supplied for each category to participants if they wanted to add clarifications or suggestions. This activity has the dual purpose of giving participants the feeling of a tangible and measurable vote, while allowing them to gain a sense of how other community members were voting.

Categories were refined for the charrette to allow for more specific streetscape feedback, with jars representing options such as tree cover, public art, and bike lanes.

7. Visual Preference Survey Board 7a. Streetscape Board In order to realize further specification on the look and feel of a reimagined 35th Street, a streetscape preference board was propped with images of two distinct visual options for each of the following categories: street furniture, sidewalk type, traffic lanes, planters, street amenities, trees, and crosswalks. By determining preference for different aesthetic options, we collaborated with community members to refine the preferred street design.

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7b. Vacant Lots Board To gather the community’s input on ways to repurpose several vacant lots on 35th Street, a board was set up with images of different vacant lots and the prompt, “Tell us what can be done with vacant lots!”. Participants were asked to identify how they would repurpose the spaces by adding sticky notes to the board. We gave additional prompts to orient participants toward thinking about community or recreational spaces that could fit well within the lot.

7c. Cultural Alleyways Board Given the presence of underutilized alleyways along the 35th Street corridor, a cultural alleyways board was devised to gather feedback on approaches to activate these spaces and reflect the neighborhood’s cultural identity. We compiled sample images of lively alleyway uses and categorized them into themes. From there, we asked participants to arrange the images in their order of preference.

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8. Street Redesign Exercises To explore the possibility of redesigning the right-of-way along 35th Street and understand how participants would allocate the width of the right-of-way, we designed a game that allowed participants to reconfigure a standard 60-foot cross-section of 35th Street (with 10-foot sidewalks, 8-foot parking lanes on each side, and two 12-foot travel lanes).

We equipped participants with cut-outs of different street elements to incorporate into their street design; options included sidewalks of varying widths, parking lanes, travel lanes of varying widths, and bike lanes and asked them to design an idealized 35th Street. While a few participants had difficulty grasping the concept, we were able to gain feedback on road space priorities. We were also successful in prompting participants to think more rationally about the streets they use everyday, while exploring possibilities of the current road’s space.

Furthermore, a similar activity was conducted using the website StreetMix.net. The exact same scenario was replicated, but participants had more options available to add to the street, such as light poles, street trees, and bus lanes.

Both the physical and digital versions of this activity held the same objectives.

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9. Density Lego Exercises In order to understand the McKinley Park community’s preferences for density, a playful activity that involved building up a section of 35th Street with Lego blocks was employed. Using colorful lego blocks that represented different uses under the categories of residential units, green spaces, and commercial buildings (i.e. condos, parklets, and bars), participants were asked to design the intersection of 35th and Damen with their ideal uses and density. Participants were told to limit their constructions to three floors and were allowed to add frontage, patios, roof gardens, and parks.

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10. Children’s Neighborhood Walk During the Community Play Garden’s block party event, our team led a guided walk along 35th Street for children and families at the event. We strategically identified vacant lots and buildings with empty facades and invited the children to depict what a redesigned storefront could look like, as well as potential uses. To visualize their ideas, we gave colorful chalk to participants and encouraged them to draw or write their ideas. Among community members who joined the design walk, we observed that the activity ignited creativity and imagination, demonstrated the potential of an enhanced street design, and reinforced the role of the community in co-creating for the future of McKinley Park.

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11. Preliminary Design Ideas Board 11a. Transit Plaza As a composite of the Gateway and Hub concepts from the 35th Street Reimagined Plan in 2022, the Transit Plaza is a concentrated transit-oriented development hub centered around the 35th/ Archer Orange Line station. The site design consists of 3-4 stories of commercial and residential uses and interconnecting public spaces, including a linear park and a community plaza.

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11b. Neighborhood Main Street In the Neighborhood Main Street concept, we envision 35th Street as a vibrant economic corridor that brings everyday businesses like bakeries, salons, and bike repair stores to McKinley Park. New proposed spaces include ghost kitchens, food trucks, and incubator spaces on existing parking lots and green areas along with a festive street spanning three to four blocks at the 35th and Wolcott intersection. This street will evolve as the go-to-destination in the neighborhood through increased green space, improved pedestrian access and continuous bike lanes.

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11c. Heart of McKinley Park Drawing from the centrality of 35th Street in the neighborhood, the Heart of McKinley Park concept is defined by the neighborhood’s unique cultural identity of immigrant communities and multigenerational families. In this design, we create opportunities and spaces to celebrate and build upon the community’s cultural diversity through branding, signages, public art, and sidewalk seating spaces.

The idea of live, work, and play is also integrated through pop-up and temporary play areas in parking lots and art activated alleyways.

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12. Collecting Other Feedback It was our priority to not only collect as much feedback from community members as possible, but also to demonstrate to them in a transparent manner that their comments and concerns were purposefully heard and would be addressed in our final proposal. To help ensure that individuals felt comfortable providing additional comments, we used a variety of collection methods in as many locations as possible. For instance, at each table at the charrette, we had a large easel pad with markers, where participants or facilitators could write down comments and suggestions for other participants to clearly see. We recorded these additional ideas after the charrette to inform our design concepts.

Additionally, each board at our pop-up activities and charrette held a pad of sticky notes where participants could write and attach notes at any part of the board they wanted to comment on. At the beginning of the charrette event, we handed each participant a blank notecard and asked them to write three things they would like to discuss during the charrette process. At the end of the night, if participants felt their written ideas were not sufficiently discussed, we asked them to put their notecard in the jar on the way out.

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What did we hear back?

We jotted down a couple of takeaways that are derived from our compilation and analysis of community feedback from all engagement methods in the following section. Community members’ perspectives and ideas directly impact this plan’s design proposal, while ensuring their goals are represented in the subsequent strategies.

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Key Takeaways I. Preference for more retail that serves as community gathering space.

II. Preference for increasing walkability & bikeability

What are the preferred new businesses on 35th Street?

What are the preferred new businesses on 35th Street?

Source: Survey result from Community Survey, Summer 2023 Source: Survey result from Community Survey, Summer 2023

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III. Preference for Street-Landscaping & Public Art

What can be better about 35th street?

Which of the following neighborhood improvements on 35th Street are most important to you?

Source: From Pop-Up Activities, Summer 2023

Source: Survey result from Community Survey, Summer 2023

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Existing Condition

IV. Alleyway Activation

VI. Street Design

How to activate underused alleyways?

How would you redesign cross-section of 35th street?

Community Redesign Ideas

Priorities: Protected Bike Lane extension, Pedestrian and Biker safety, more green space access.

Existing Condition Community Redesign Ideas

Source: Activities from Charrette, Summer 2023

Source: Activities from Charrette, Summer 2023

V. Culture and Identity Enhancement

VII. Economic Development

How would you redesign cross-section of 35th street?

What are the challenges faced by Businesses?

Priorities: Neighborhood festival and Multicultural Commercial District Spaces, Public Art and Plazas.

Source: Activities from Charrette, Summer 2023

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Source: Survey result from Business Survey, summer 2023

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Lessons Learned -Successes • The strong community networks in McKinley Park promoted informal outreach and high engagement among residents and community stakeholders. Many residents who participated in the engagement events were enthusiastic about the co-design process, and they eagerly immersed themselves in the dialogue to reimagine 35th Street.

• Using hard copies of our community and business survey encouraged completion in real time. While we offered iPads and QR codes for community members to fill out the surveys, many preferred using paper copies of the survey. The physical nature of the paper copies, along with personal assistance from a team member, may have felt more tangible to respondents and resulted in a higher completion rate than expected.

• We ensured all engagement activities were available in multiple languages. Throughout our engagement activities, our team had a native Spanish speaker and a Mandarin speaker providing translation services. All flyers and activity boards also featured English, Mandarin, and Spanish to promote inclusivity and accessibility.

• There was a high proportion of community members who felt that their involvement in the community-driven planning process benefited McKinley Park. We also created a range of engaging and fun activities that expanded community members’ perceptions of civic engagement. In conjunction, these realities led to higher rates of participation.

• With the facilitation of MPDC, our team forged new relationships with local aldermanic offices. Representatives from the 11th and 12th wards participated in our engagement events. We were also able to have initial discussions on potential interventions for 35th Street and future collaborations.

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Lessons Learned -Challenges • Our business survey feedback did not prove as fruitful as we hoped. This was mostly due to the structuring of questions, which consistently solicited clarification. In particular, we were unable to clearly define the top concerns for business owners on 35th Street due to multiple respondents answering “Other” with no additional context.

We recommend simplifying future iterations of the business survey to focus on the most relevant concerns.

• While we engaged the Asian and Hispanic/Latino/a/x communities in McKinley Park throughout the planning and design process, their level of representation was not proportional to their actual share in the neighborhood.

Despite partnering with two other community organizations to work with the Latino and Asian communities this year, we received low participation from the Spanish-speaking community at our charrette and received lower response rates from community members who speak a Chinese dialect across all engagement activities.

• We also recognize that low engagement with the Asian community may result from other factors. First, we specifically collaborated with CBCAC this year to build on their network with Chinese residents. Their executive directors has acknowledged that they also continue to face issues getting their Chinese residents to engage because of cultural differences. Second, cultural differences in engagement with formal planning processes remains a challenge. These are not typical venues available in China, particularly around governance, and residents have been engaging based on this significant cultural dynamic. As a whole, stronger outreach and collaboration is necessary to build trust with these communities and engage them in meaningful ways.

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-Challenges (continued) • The charrette’s physical layout limited community interaction with activity boards spread throughout our event space. We hosted the charrette inside of a former restaurant on 35th Street; MPDC selected the site because it is a vacant storefront on the corridor and exemplifies some of the major issues facing local businesses. However, the event space generally constrained attendees to either the front or back of the building. We recommend selecting a location with a wider layout to facilitate movement and dialogue.

• The QR code for the online community surveys was underutilized. Based on community outreach during summer 2022, we expected that the majority of our surveys would be completed via the QR code, but this was not the case. It may be worth exploring community members’ preferences for digital communication.

• Although all engagement materials were available in the dominant languages in McKinley Park, we had limited capacity for translation services, which led to minor translation errors. Our partner, Aquinas Literacy Center, provided translation services for engagement activities in summer 2022. Since they were experiencing significant operational challenges, they were unable to support this year’s engagement through translation services and event space. This speaks to the challenges that businesses face on 35th Street, as well as their ability to stay in the community and thrive. It also highlights the need to actively address the needs of business and property owners in this plan.

In terms of engagement, future considerations should be given to expanding organizational capacity for translation to ensure mutual understanding and responsiveness to the community.

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04

DESIGN FRAMEWORK

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Design Framework Final Concept The 35th Street corridor is grounded by a wealth of community assets, including public schools, local restaurants, the Marshfield Courts skate park, and the McKinley Park Library. We aim to make 35th Street a vibrant commercial and community-centric corridor for McKinley Park residents, while reflecting the neighborhood’s cultural diversity and history. This street will transform into the “Neighborhood Main Street,” becoming the go-to-destination for McKinley Park. The new street design promotes accessibility and safe mobility for pedestrians and cyclists. It expands dining and shopping options, as well as comfortable outdoor spaces for people to gather and celebrate their community.

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35th Street - Overview The design concept conceptualizes 35th Street as McKinley Park’s bustling street with concentrations of activity at certain intersections from Archer to Ashland.

Based on the community feedback, the concept integrates elements of artactivated alleyways, a linear park, extended sidewalks, community spaces, pedestrian crossings, and food trucks. Some other notable additions include enhanced tree cover, temporary play areas, space for night markets and performance areas that weave the community together. These strategic planning and design measures shall help advance small business development and community well-being on 35th Street and within the whole of Mckinley Park.

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Street Design

Existing Street Section

As the neighborhood main street, 35th Street acts as the nexus of neighborhood life, with high pedestrian volumes, frequent parking turnover, key transit routes, and bicyclists all vying for limited space.

The existing street section includes 22-foot traffic lanes within a 65-foot right-of-way. By removing one of the parking lanes from the existing street design, we propose expanding the intersection to have wider sidewalks and two protected bike lanes on each side. The sidewalk right of way on the south side of 35th Street has a 14-feet width. This allows for greater flexibility for shared use, seasonal structures, and public events, while maintaining an open thoroughfare on 35th Street.

Proposed Street Section

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35th/Archer Orange Line Station -The Portal

The 35th and Archer intersection connects McKinley Park to other parts of the city through the CTA Orange Line and other transit options. Based on community feedback, this transit oriented development is a potential portal into the neighborhood that can be made more welcoming through subtle changes.

The view shows a part of the parking lot being repurposed into a linear park to improve walking and biking connectivity with enhanced lighting, anchored by grab and go businesses. The sidewalks at the junction are suggested to be extended in order to interact with about 3-4 stories of mixed use at the corner parcels whereas the modified paving aids traffic calming at the seemingly chaotic junction. These interventions also respond to safety concerns related to road accidents, improving mobility around the L station and its surroundings.

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35th Street and Wolcott Avenue -The Social Hub

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Housing the PublicLibrary and the Walgreens store, this intersection is frequently visited by community members. The junction is envisioned as a ‘Social Hub’ with multiple small businesses and flexible gathering spaces interconnected by the bike lanes and pedestrian links. It repurposes the Walgreens parking lot as a temporary station for food trucks which extends into the library’s landscaped space on a few occasions. Wolcott Avenue is utilized as the Festival Street, giving the neighborhood a much needed space to host small street markets and block parties spanning 2 blocks in either direction from the McKinley Community Play Garden. This brings onboard, different age groups within the neighborhood to participate in mutual learning and involvement since McKinley Park is a home to many generations of families living together.

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35th Street and Wood Street -The Heart

Adjacent to the Nathanael Greene Elementary School, the 35th and Wood intersection becomes an essential community space hosting a seasonal popup playground for all ages and a temporary performance area.

Displaying the neighborhood’s diversity through public art on empty facades and providing space for cultural celebrations, the intersection embodies the heart of McKinley Park.

Also, the bike lane on 35th Street links to the proposed bike network on Wood Street, which stretches to the larger park through 37th Street as a part of the larger circuit. This redesign encourages casual meet-ups and community connections, while becoming a platform for cultural expression where unique identities are celebrated and cultural knowledge is imparted to the new ones.

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View 1 - The Alleyway

This street view shows a glimpse of our visualization for the alleyway near the CTA parking lot at the L Station on 35th & Archer. The vibrant art on the rear walls, upgraded street lighting, community fridge, and cafe windows welcome people into the alleyway, while enhancing their commute.

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View 2 - The Street Junction

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This sketch displays the interaction between the streetscape, small businesses, and neighborhood residents on 35th Street.

Activity in the repurposed Walgreens lot extends to the library and surrounding area, stimulating a lively environment for street festivals and food trucks.

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View 3 - Cafe View

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This view depicts outdoor sidewalk cafes under a dense tree canopy, facilitating an active street life. The bike lane is adjacent to the sidewalk lined with prairie-like flower bed medians. This design furthers the creation of an exciting public realm that ties together different opportunity sites on the street.

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Metrics The redesign of 35th Street would promote small business development, mobility for pedestrians and cyclists, and access to outdoor, gathering spaces. Our proposed design concepts are preliminary visions based on the community’s preference; they are intended to inform the long-term improvement efforts on 35th Street. Future projects will need to be identified, funded, and undergo additional community engagement and analysis before they can be realized.

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1

Mile of two bike lanes on 35th St & Connections to Wood and Damen

5

Additional bike parking racks

20+

Opportunity locations for small businesses

300+

Trees on 35th Street

1800+

Square foot of on-street retail extension space

80,000+

Square foot of space repurposed for community use

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05

MOVING FORWARD

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Presenting the Concepts

On Friday, June 9, 2023, we held a community talk-back session, where we presented the three design ideas to community members.

This event was held at Bethany Baptist Church in McKinley Park, with about 50 participants in attendance. Our goal was to demonstrate to the community our understanding of their vision for 35th Street, gather feedback on our designs, and provoke further public discussion centered around 35th Street’s future.

We wanted to engage a format that would allow for more in-depth and focused discussions than we were able to achieve with our previous events, so we streamlined our structure: after presenting our design ideas, we split participants into four tables of about eight people each, with at least one table dedicated to each of our concepts. With two dedicated facilitators and one notetaker at each table, we focused the discussion on three questions. After twenty-five minutes, a participant reported to the larger group what they felt to be the takeaways from the short discussion. After all groups finished their reports, a question-and-answer session was conducted.

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Common themes that emerged during the discussions were safety for pedestrians and cyclists, enhanced social opportunities, and small business development on 35th Street.

With each of the concepts, community members often had questions about how parking would be impacted by the street redesign and if the traffic calming measures were sufficient for the level of traffic on and around 35th Street. At the 35th and Archer site, some participants expressed concern about the location of the linear park, as its proposed entryways are situated near an intersection that has been prone to accidents.

Many agreed that additional traffic calming measures would be necessary along Leavitt Street to improve accessibility at the linear park. Overall, participants were excited about the potential for 35th Street to become a more communal corridor, with increased business presence and safety for multimodal travel.

The structure of the discussion was successful at provoking discussion among residents and community leaders, and, together with this plan, will help direct the community toward the next steps.

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Policy and Program Implications Zoning •

Rezone key commercial nodes of activity to B3-2. (Short-term: 1 to 3 years)

Selectively upzone 35th Street properties that do not currently have active residential usage on the ground floor from B2 to B3-2. Upzoning to B3-2 allows for bars, shared commercial kitchens, and medium-sized (up to 999 occupancy) event venues. This would promote mixed-use and small-business development on the corridor. This strategic upzoning would protect current residential properties from having limited buyer options should they choose to sell their property, while maximizing the retail potential of 35th Street. Representatives from the 11th and 12th Ward have also expressed interest in rezoning 35th Street; we suggest capitalizing on this momentum within the next year.

•

Create an Overlay Zoning District (Short-term: 1 to 3 years)

An overlay district is a zoning tool applied over an existing zoning district.

In the case of 35th Street, an overlay can be employed to preserve historical building forms and affordable housing, while mitigating displacement as a result of increased commercial activity on 35th Street. The City of Chicago’s Special Character Overlay District (SCOD) ordinance supports the maintenance of the unique physical features in a district by establishing design guidelines that reflect and complement the neighborhood, as well as increasing transparency on development processes in the district. For 35th Street, this can help regulate building form, including height and materials, to better reflect the community’s desired street character.

Although overlay zoning is mostly used to enhance the physical nature of districts in Chicago, an overlay can also further affordable housing preservation. Recent Chicago examples of overlay districts in Chicago that have addressed affordable housing include the Predominance of the Block (606) overlay zoning district and the Multi-Unit Preservation (Pilsen) overlay zoning district. Incorporating an overlay district is especially important as commercial development expands on 35th Street, potentially reducing the availability of residential units and increasing land values and housing costs. A SCOD designation for 35th Street would be contingent on community input and City Council approval.

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Economic Development •

Join the Illinois Main Street program. (Short-term: 1 to 3 years)

To provide MPDC with peer assistance to carry out its strategy of turning 35th Street into a thriving main street, we recommend participating in the Illinois Main Street program. An extension of Main Street America, the Illinois Main Street program can further assist with implementing the corridor plan and connect community stakeholders to a national support network. The program affords a range of networking, training, and technical service opportunities for communities interested in revitalizing their downtown or commercial districts, as well as getting them on the track to acquiring Main Street designation.

The program also centers on unifying diverse communities, celebrating their historical character, and advancing preservation-based economic development.

•

Support local businesses through technical training, promotion, and placemaking. (Short-term: 1 to 3 years)

To expand and sustain small businesses on 35th Street, we recommend connecting local business owners to resources offering business development services. First, the City of Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection’s Neighborhood Business Development Centers (NBDC) program can identify and support local entrepreneurs to operate vacant storefronts on 35th Street. This program provides no-cost, hyper-local business development assistance to entrepreneurs and business owners on general business licensing, public way use permitting, and other specialized support services. On-the-ground business consulting services are also available to local businesses trying to gain a foothold on 35th Street. By applying for program services during the next application round in November 2024, MPDC should first seek the services of a place-based generalist, who can provide general business services to the entire aspiring McKinley Park business community.

In this phase, attention should be given to addressing challenges in finding suitable building locations and identifying funding opportunities. From there, we suggest requesting the services of a cultural specialist, given the many aspiring immigrant entrepreneurs in McKinley Park. Some currently operate street carts and vendor stands and may have limited technical knowledge of business development. The specialist shall provide tailored support for business owners who face cultural barriers to accessing mainstream business services.

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Second, Choose Chicago’s Neighborhood Strategy Program can further business promotion and placemaking initiatives. Choose Chicago, Chicago’s official tourism bureau, directly works with neighborhood residents and organizations to promote their small businesses, events, parks, museums, public art, and other attractions. McKinley Park’s business community could benefit from attracting people to its retail, dining, and recreational amenities. Choose Chicago was recently awarded a $5.5 million grant to expand neighborhood tourism initiatives through neighborhood-first methods that are conscientious of maximizing the rewards of tourism to Chicago neighborhoods while mitigating displacement.

Through listening sessions to ensure all marketing and placemaking efforts have community approval, specific initiatives that could benefit the community are the enlistment of neighborhood content creators to tell the story of McKinley Park, neighborhood cleanup initiatives, professional food and small-business photography, wayfinding programs, and community tour operator training.

•

Restore underutilized or vacant commercial buildings. (Medium-term: 4 to 6 years)

In order to address vacant storefronts and empty facades on 35th Street, we recommend seeking funding from the Chicago Recovery Grant program of the Chicago Recovery Plan. Through the program, local building owners receive grant funding to cover the cost of renovating vacant or underutilized spaces. Currently seeking applications through 2023, this program funds pre-development, construction, or renovation costs for permanent capital improvement projects. While site control is preferred, grants are also available for business owners who seek to manage projects themselves. Additionally, projects cannot be for residential-only development and must have a mixeduse component, which is well-suited for 35th Street. One vacant building on 3520 South Archer Avenue in McKinley Park is currently in consideration for funding through this program. If this building is successfully funded, it can serve a model for restoration on 35th Street.

As small businesses emerge or expand on 35th Street, other additional resources may be required to cover the cost of rehabilitating commercial buildings on the corridor. We suggest that business owners and property owners partner with the Chicago Community Loan Fund (CCLF) on financing for building improvements. CCLF offers short-term construction and rehabilitation loans for small businesses with an interest in positively impacting the community.

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•

Establish a Special Service Area on the 35th Street corridor. (Medium-term: 4 to 6 years)

TA Special Service Area (SSA) is a local tax district that funds an additional range of support services, infrastructure improvements, and land and building improvements through a localized property tax levy. Services may include streetscaping, business retention/attraction, special events, facade improvements, interior rehabilitation, and more. Funding generated from the SSA can help cover the costs of certain commercial building rehabilitation projects. To meet initial requirements for a feasibility study and start-up costs for establishing the 35th Street corridor as an SSA , MPDC should apply for a Flexible Funding Program grant from the Chicago Community Trust (CCT).

This grant offers up to $75,000 for business strategy capacity building. Another approach involves proposing an extension of an existing SSA near the corridor; currently, the area east of 35th and Ashland falls within SSA #13 Stockyards.

However, before the process to establish an SSA can move forward, it is critical to build community support for an SSA.

Public Realm •

Implement artistic placemaking efforts on 35th Street and adjacent alleyways. (Short-term: 1 to 3 years)

We recommend that MPDC apply for artistic placemaking grants to activate neighborhood alleyways and plazas, as well as provide meaningful physical and programmatic improvements in these spaces. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Our Town Grant Program can support the artistic placemaking efforts on 35th Street and in the adjacent alleyways. The NEA grant funds creative placemaking projects that integrate art, culture, and design into local efforts that strengthen communities over the long term. This grant is available for projects between $25,000 and $150,000 and requires a local applicant.

Project examples include murals and painted asphalt.

In addition, the Project for Public Spaces provides frequent grant funding for placemaking projects, along with technical assistance and capacity building.

Local projects such as the Washington Park Rain Garden demonstrate the impact this grant can have in Chicago. It reclaimed a vacant lot, transforming it into a flexible garden and a gathering space for artists and community members.

It is of a similar scale to the public spaces we propose in this plan.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

TIMEFRAME

FUNDING

PARTNERS

Rezone key commercial nodes of activity to B3-2

Short-term

12th Ward, 11th Ward, City of Chicago

Create an overlay zoning district

Short-term

12th Ward, 11th Ward, City of Chicago

Short-term

Illinois Main Street, MPDC

ZONING

•

Celebrate and enhance McKinley Park Library programming (Short-term: 1 to 3 years)

Leveraging one of 35th Street’s beloved assets, the McKinley Park Library, MPDC should make every effort to secure grant funding for public programming through the Chicago Public Library Foundation’s (CPLF) Community Connections Fund. This resource provides small grants to librarians to customize programs, activities, and outreach to enhance community engagement. Such grant funding would be beneficial given the desire for more community programming in McKinley Park.

Environmental Sustainability •

Repurpose alleyways with green infrastructure. (Medium-term: 4 to 6 years)

Given community feedback around flooding issues during heavy downpours and urban heat island effects on 35th Street, we recommend repurposing alleyways with green infrastructure to improve stormwater mitigation. Such a project also has the potential to expand greenspace in one of the most impervious areas of McKinley Park. Two local resources for developing green infrastructure are the Chicago Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) Green Alley Program and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s (MWRD) Green Infrastructure Partnership Opportunity Program. Funding from the MWRD’s grant-awarding program could be transferred to CDOT, given the requirement that the money be awarded through an intergovernmental agreement and CDOT’s jurisdiction over the alleyways in McKinley Park, for implementation. Since the MWRD grant would only cover construction costs, approximately $75,000 per alleyway block of the 12th Ward Menu funds would be needed to cover pre-construction costs. Possible solutions include rain gardens, bioswales/bioretention areas, permeable pavement systems, and rainwater harvesting systems. Such environmental solutions reduce the strain on the existing stormwater system, recharge groundwater, and filter out silt and other pollutants. The successful implementation of green infrastructure would further climate resiliency on 35th Street.

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ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Join the Illinois Main Street program Support local businesses through technical training, promotion, and placemaking

Restore underutilized or vacant commercial buildings

Establish a Special Service Area on the 35th Street corridor

Short-term

Choose Chicago, Neighborhood Business Development Center program

City of Chicago

Medium-term

Chicago Recovery Grant, Chicago Community Loan Fund’s (CCLF) construction and rehabilitation loans

City of Chicago, CCLF

Medium-term

Chicago Community Trust

12th Ward, 11th Ward, City of Chicago

PUBLIC REALM

Implement artistic placemaking efforts on 35th Street and adjacent alleyways

Celebrate and enhance McKinley Park Library programming

Medium-term

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Our Neighborhood artists, Town grant, Project CDOT, Chicago Park for Public Spaces District grant, MacArthur Foundation

Short-term

Chicago Public Library Foundation (CPLF)

CPLF, Chicago Public Library, MPDC

CDOT Green Alley Program, MWRD

CDOT, MWRD

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY Repurpose alleyways with green infrastructure

Medium-term

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Conclusion Given community feedback around flooding issues during heavy downpours and urban heat island effects on 35th Street, we recommend repurposing alleyways with green infrastructure to improve stormwater mitigation. Such a project also has the potential to expand greenspace in one of the most impervious areas of McKinley Park. Two local resources for developing green infrastructure are the Chicago Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) Green Alley Program and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s (MWRD) Green Infrastructure Partnership Opportunity Program. Funding from the MWRD’s grant-awarding program could be transferred to CDOT, given the requirement that the money be awarded through an intergovernmental agreement and CDOT’s jurisdiction over the alleyways in McKinley Park, for implementation. Since the MWRD grant would only cover construction costs, approximately $75,000 per alleyway block of the 12th Ward Menu funds would be needed to cover pre-construction costs. Possible solutions include rain gardens, bioswales/bioretention areas, permeable pavement systems, and rainwater harvesting systems. Such environmental solutions reduce the strain on the existing stormwater system, recharge groundwater, and filter out silt and other pollutants. The successful implementation of green infrastructure would further climate resiliency on 35th Street.

Though this project has drawn to a close, we hope that our key findings and community feedback on our co-designs influence future plans, policies, and improvement decisions on the 35th Street corridor. While this plan builds off of last year’s 35th Street Redesign McKinley Park Plan, it still represents an initial step in a longer, community-led planning process. We hope that these efforts will be a resource for McKinley Park, while ensuring that diverse community voices are heard and valued in identifying and implementing a community vision for the future.

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Team Members: Abdullah Chaudhry Aayush Patel Dinesh Prasad Neha Thunga Janhavi Manjrekar Wen Po Hsu

Studio Instructors: Punya Vats Ravi Thakker Sara Zandi Shashwat Arya Kyle Sussman Grace Li

April Jackson, Sevin Yildiz, and Merav Argov

Studio Managers: Grace Hebert and Molly Delaney

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Endnotes • • • •

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• •

•

•

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Chicago, IL, Municipal Code of Chicago ch. 17, § 7-0600 (2008).

Chicago, IL, Municipal Code of Chicago ch. 17, § 7-0591 (2008). -606 Chicago, IL, Municipal Code of Chicago ch. 17, § 7-0580 (2008). -pilsen Chicago Community Loan Fund . (n.d.). Chicago Community Loan Fund.

Chicago Community Loan Fund Helping create communities where people thrive. https://cclfchicago.org/ The Chicago Community Trust. (2023, March 2). Flexible Funding Program. The Chicago Community Trust. https://www.cct.org/grants/opportunities/flexiblefunding-program/#:~:text=The%20Flexible%20Funding%20Program%20 provides,Trust’s%20Catalyzing%20Neighborhood%20Investment%20strategy.

Chicago Public Library Foundation. (2023, May 26). Chicago Public Library Foundation. https://cplfoundation.org/ Chicago Recovery Grant Application for Community Development. City of Chicago :: Chicago Recovery Grant Application for Community Development. (n.d.). https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dcd/provdrs/ec_dev/svcs/ chicago-recovery-grant-application.html Choose Chicago. (2023, March 10). Neighborhood strategy. Choose Chicago. https://www.choosechicago.com/about-us/neighborhoodstrategy/#:~:text=Choose%20Chicago%20is%20working%20directly,one%20 of%20Chicago’s%2077%20neighborhoods%3F City of Chicago . (n.d.). Special service area (SSA) program. City of Chicago :: Special Service Area (SSA) Program. https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/ dcd/supp_info/special_service_areassaprogram.html

• City of Chicago. (2010). (rep.). The Chicago Green Alley Handbook: An Action Guide to Create a Greener, Environmentally Sustainable Chicago. Retrieved June 11, 2023, from https://www.chicago.gov/dam/city/depts/cdot/Green_ Alley_Handbook_2010.pdf.

• Green Infrastructure Partnership Opportunity Program. Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. (n.d.). https://mwrd.org/greeninfrastructure-partnership-opportunity-program-0 • Illinois Main Street. (n.d.). https://www.ilmainstreet.org/ • Neighborhood Business Development Centers (NBDC) program. City of Chicago :: Neighborhood Business Development Centers (NBDC) Program. (n.d.). https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/bacp/sbc/ neighborhoodbusinessdevcenters.html • Our town. National Endowment for the Arts. (n.d.). https://www.arts.gov/ grants/our-town • Project for Public Spaces. (n.d.). Project for Public Spaces. https://www.pps. org/ • SSA 13: Stockyards Industrial Park. Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council.

(2020, April 30). https://bync.org/ssa-13 • Title 17 chicago zoning ordinance. American Legal Publishing. (n.d.). https:// codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/chicago/latest/chicagozoning_il/0-0-0-48750 • Washington Park Rain Garden. Projects - Project for Public Spaces. (n.d.).https://www.pps.org/projects/washington-park-raingarden#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20Rain%20Garden%20will%20 provide,vibrant%2C%20culturally%20engaged%20community.%E2%80%9D

35th Street Redesign, McKinley Park

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