The Board of Education recently gained approval from the city to construct a new Powell School on lakefront parkland in Rainbow Beach Park between 75th and 76th Streets and South Shore Drive.   Despite the fact that the proposed plan violates the Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection Ordinance and the current zoning as “Public Open Space”, a zoning category enacted to prevent the taking of lakefront parkland, the Plan Commission and Zoning Committee approved the plan.

Friends of the Parks argued that the plan violated 10 of the 14 policies of the Lake Michigan and Chicago Lakefront Protection Ordinance including policies 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 14 of the city’s Ordinance.    The site was the location of the old Thunderbird Motel which was acquired by the Park District when Walter Netsch was president of the Park District Board of Commissioners in approximately 1989.  Tax dollars were used to purchase the land in order to fulfill Policy 1 of the Lakefront Protection Ordinance “complete the publicly owned lakefront”.  The land was further rezoned Park/Open Space (POS1) to protect it from development.

The South Shore Community Area is underserved by park and recreational facilities.   In addition to Rainbow Beach Park, there is only one other neighborhood sized park, Rosenblum Park, to serve the residents of the South Shore Community.  Sadly, Rosenblum Park was recently removed from public use for at least two years for the construction of a new South Shore High School.   Thus, there are no after school park or recreational programs in the South Shore Community except for those at Rainbow Beach.

The Park District’s Land Policy Plan identified South Shore Community as having a SIGNIFICANT need for additional park facilities including 10 ball diamonds, 6 athletic fields, 3 swimming pools, 3 basketball backboard, 4 play areas and 3 gymnasiums.

Sadly, in a continuing pattern of land grabs by the Board of Education for the construction of schools, Rainbow Beach Park and the South Shore Community lost.  The Park District Board, the Plan Commission and the Zoning board approved the transfer of the parkland to the Board of Education.