In a million years Dale Boiling never figured the city would approve plans to build 280 condominium units and 20 houses on the banks of the Chicago River. The project, proposed for a 17-acre site near the intersection of Foster and Pulaski, would make traffic even more congested, cause flooding, and pave over a forest–one of the last in Chicago. “I don’t think the city would want to let this land be destroyed,” says Boiling, who lives nearby. “I can’t see why.”
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The project was unveiled last summer by developer Bruce Adreani, president of Norwood Builders. (Adreani and George did not return phone calls.) To his credit, Adreani was open to community concerns. Throughout the summer he met with residents, leading them on tours of the site and showing them other complexes he’s built. In response to their complaints Norwood Builders reduced the number of units that would be built from 356 to 280, set the project farther back from the river, and dropped the five condominium buildings from six stories to five.
Yet the opposition persisted. For one thing, the complex would wipe out what is habitat for several interesting species–red fox, wood ducks, Cooper’s hawks–though none of them is on the endangered list. For another, it would feed more traffic onto Foster, which is already heavily used, particularly in the late afternoon.
However, Jarrett made de these claims even though the city had never conducted an independent examination of the project’s effect on flooding in area. According to Henry Henderson, commissioner of the city’s Department of Environment, the site might be part of the kind of floodplain that’s heavily regulated by the federal government. “If it’s determined that the site is in what the federal government calls a 100-year floodplain, then the project would be subject to many more regulations,” he says. “You would have to look at its impact on the displacement of water and the effect on surrounding property.”
Daley went on to explain that he was angry at the implication that he’d had anything to do with winning city business for Daley & George. “They have never talked to me about these matters,” he told reporters. “I am completely shielded whatsoever. I have no relationship with that firm.”
“I don’t think this is an example of institutional supineness,” says Henderson, “but of institutions representing the public interest.”
