Friends of the Parks

Testimony Presented to the Chicago Plan Commission on the Proposed Chicago Children’s Museum in Grant Park – May 15, 2008

Friends of the Parks has reviewed the proposed architectural designs for the Children’s Museum and determined that the building does not meet the applicable restrictions on above-ground buildings in Grant Park.

Friends of the Parks believes that the plan to construct the Chicago Children’s Museum in Grant Park violates the 172 year-old “forever open, clear and free” protection established in 1836 by the I and M Canal commissioners and upheld by the courts in the 20th century.

The Chicago Children’s Museum is designed with a 2-story, 3,800 sq. ft. building at the upper level of Randolph Street. As an above-ground building, the museum violates two legal covenants:

1. Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection Ordinance (LPO)

Policy 5 states: “Maintain and improve the formal character and open water vista of Grant Park with no new above-ground structure permitted.”

2. A. Montgomery Ward Court Decisions

The four historic A. Montgomery Ward court decisions mandate that Grant Park must remain “Forever Open, Clear and Free of any Buildings.”

While we deeply respect the efforts of the Children’s Museum to find a way to meet these legal restrictions, it appears that it simply may not be architecturally achievable with the broader needs of the museum.

We believe there are other more appropriate locations for the museum that would meet its needs in a neighborhood or in a greater Loop location.

We ask the Chicago Plan Commission to uphold Chicago’s Lakefront Protection Ordinance and the Ward legal precedents for Grant Park and vote to oppose the Children’s Museum.