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Obama Library Sites to Get Another Public Hearing March 9

By Sam Cholke | February 20, 2015 5:31am | Updated on February 20, 2015 1:15pm
 A section of Washington Park is considered the favored spot for the Barack Obama Presidential Library by many South Siders.
A section of Washington Park is considered the favored spot for the Barack Obama Presidential Library by many South Siders.
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DNAinfo/Sam Cholke

HYDE PARK — Barack Obama Presidential Library boosters and critics will get another opportunity to get their voice heard at a public hearing next month.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday announced that the Chicago Plan Commission would hold a hearing on the library at 11 a.m. March 9 at City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle St.

The meeting is the next step in finalizing an agreement between the Chicago Park District and the city to transfer approximately 20 acres of Washington or Jackson parks if either site is chosen for the library.

Both sites are being proposed as possible locations by the University of Chicago, which is in competition for the library against the University of Illinois at Chicago, Columbia University in New York City and the University of Hawaii.

The park district on Feb. 11 approved giving up control of swaths of parkland to the city only if the president chooses one of the two sites. The City Council is currently considering a parallel ordinance that would accept the land from the park district.

The measures are being considered without outlines for the size or scope of the library. The mayor has promised to hold the Obama Foundation, which is in charge of recommending a site to the president, to using less than five acres of park space for buildings and to replace any park space used for buildings elsewhere in the city.

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