(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Protect Our Parks, a Chicago-based nonprofit, filed a preliminary injunction Tuesday to halt construction of the Obama Presidential Center at historic Jackson Park.
Groundbreaking was expected as early as mid-August, but the coalition feels the environmental impact is being overlooked. Trees at the site are necessary for the local ecology, attorney Michael Rachlis said.
“They are essential for the birds that come down what is called the ‘Mississippi flyway,’ migrating from the north to south, and then going up again.”
The Obama Foundation and the City of Chicago announced the trees won’t be cut down until Sept. 1.
Another concern is traffic disruptions throughout neighboring communities.
“You have to close major roads. You have to close for several years much of Lake Shore Drive and Stony Island Avenue. Already, traffic inconvenience is starting to take place,” said University of Chicago law professor Richard Epstein, who is assisting the legal challenge.
The National Park Service, the Federal Highway Administration and the Illinois Department of Transportation prepared an environmental assessment in February that found no significant impact.
Still, Protect Our Parks is proposing the Presidential Center relocate just a couple miles west to Washington Park.
According to licensed architect and preservationist Grahm Balkany, their proposed site “integrates into the neighborhood and makes use of 12.65 acres that at present is mostly vacant and only occupied by a gas station, a parking lot and a former service station.”
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