Community open house area master plan set
by BRIAN NADIG
The third and final community open house on the Jefferson Park Station Area Master Plan will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 22, at the Copernicus Center Annex, 5214 W. Lawrence Ave.
The event will include a presentation on community outreach, including surveys, which were conducted to gather input for the master plan. Design guidelines that have been developed for the plan also will be available.
Input from the open house will be used to help formulate the final draft of the plan, which will be presented later this year to the Chicago Plan Commission, according to project officials. The commission will hold a public hearing on the plan.
A previous master plan for the area was written in 2008, but the commission never voted on it due to community opposition. The plan recommended the construction 1,600 new living units near the Jefferson Park CTA Transit Center, 4917 N. Milwaukee Ave.
The new plan is not expected to make specific zoning and density recommendations but will have design concepts for new construction and for the enhancement of existing infrastructure, along with recommended transportation improvements.
The plan’s recommendations are intended for a study area located within a few blocks of the CTA terminal.
Several redevelopment projects within the study area already are in the works, including a 16-story, 114-unit apartment building at 4849 N. Lipps Ave., a seven-story, 100-unit apartment building at 5150 N. Northwest Hwy. and a four-story, 39-unit apartment building at 5201 W. Lawrence Ave. Developers also are looking at potential mixed-use developments in the 4900 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, across from the terminal.
More information on the master planning process is available at www.accessjeffpark.org.
