ROGERS PARK — An empty lakefront lot could soon begin its transformation into a new park with shade trees, lighted pergolas and a meandering path leading from Albion Avenue to Hartigan Beach, officials said.
The Chicago City Council voted this week to contribute $275,000 to build the park.
The vacant parking lot, which has been owned by the city since 2007, came close to being developed in 2012, but the proposal for the community garden and dune restoration area came a few votes shy in the ward's annual participatory budgeting voting.
But Ald. Joe Moore (49th) said he and the park district found enough money in a city fund created by the Open Space Impact Fee, which is set aside for the development of park space in the city.
Moore said work should begin "shortly" now that the funds had been allocated on Wednesday.
The project is being "fast-tracked" and the new 0.5-acre park is expected to be completed by summer 2014 "or sooner," Moore said.
Renderings of the park show a grassy green space with shade trees and a meandering path leading from Albion Avenue to Hartigan Beach. In the center of the park, just past a drinking fountain, two lighted pergolas overshadow boulder-style seating, according to the Chicago Park District rendering.
