LAKEVIEW — A community meeting on the topic of redevelopment projects to be constructed after phase one of the Red and Purple Modernization (RPM) has been rescheduled due to a home game at Wrigley Field.
The meeting was originally set for Wednesday, but it will now take place 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday in the Hoover-Leppen Theatre of the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St.
The meeting is open to the public, and it will feature preliminary concepts for transit-oriented development projects near the to-be-constructed Belmont flyover.
Attendees will be able to talk one-on-one with the CTA planning team and provide feedback on the proposed TODs, which are pitched as a way to decrease the need for cars by concentrating denser housing near public transportation. Chicago's ordinance allows for more dwelling units and fewer parking spaces than the zoning code would require for non-transit-oriented projects.
RPM Phase One, announced in 2014, will rebuild the Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr rail stations and more than a mile of adjacent tracks and track structure as part of a long-term plan to rebuild the Red and Purple lines and stations north of Belmont to Linden.
The project also includes the construction of a Red-Purple bypass where the Red, Brown and Purple lines intersect north of Belmont station. The idea is to improve reliability and increase capacity.
To make this project possible, CTA will acquire 16 buildings and a handful of vacant lots surrounding the flyover area. Some of these buildings and lots will be developed after RPM construction is completed, and Monday's meeting is meant to give community members an idea of what those developments might look like.
The meeting discussing the CTA's Lawrence to Bryn Mawr Modernization Area will take place 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 8 at the Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway.
These two upcoming meetings are the second of three rounds of public meetings on the TOD plans. The first round took place in May, and the third round will be next spring or summer.
At the May meeting on the TODs surrounding the Belmont flyover, community members said it was important to protect historic sites and maintain the character of Lakeview by keeping the buildings traditional brick rather than ultra-modern. Ensuring the area stays an entertainment destination was also a big point.
On Monday, neighbors will have the opportunity to see if their input was taken into consideration.
TOD plan development began this year and will continue through mid-2018 as part of the Federal Transit Administration’s Pilot Program for Transit-Oriented Development. CTA received a $1.25 million federal grant as part of the program.
CTA anticipates major construction work for RPM Phase One will begin in 2019. Construction is estimated to last four or five years.
