Friends of the Parks’ Last Four Miles Plan is a community-based plan to complete Chicago’s public lakefront park system from the Indiana border on the south to Evanston on the north.  Generations of Chicagoans have worked at great sacrifice since the city’s inception to provide the legacy of public parks that we all enjoy today, 26 miles of public recreation, a heritage that has made Chicago one of the nation’s great cities.   Friends of the Parks is working with the city, the Park District and community groups to complete the job of creating public parks on the approximately four miles of lakefront that are private and off limits to Chicagoans, about two miles from 71st to 92nd Streets on the south and about two miles from Hollywood to Evanston on the north.  

Having released the Last Four Miles Plan in 2009, Friends of the Parks is working to implement Phase 1 of the Plan by partnering with state elected officials on legislation that would transfer 100 acres of Iroquois Landing on the city’s southeast side to the Chicago Park District for an expansion of Calumet Park.  The land transfer bill is Senate Bill 3779, introduced as a shell bill.  SB 3779 would: 

Transfer the vacant portion (approximately 100 acres) of Iroquois Landing from the Illinois International Port District to the Chicago Park District.  This section of Iroquois Landing is not used for maritime activities by the Port District.  With this cost-free transfer, 100 additional acres to expand Calumet Park would be acquired by the Chicago Park District. .

If passed in Springfield, the land transfer would create recreational opportunities on the city’s park deficient southeast side.   SB 3779 would be the first step of implementing the Last Four Miles Plan which has a total goal of adding approximately 500 acres of new open space to Chicago where no lakefront parks exist.  The proposed 100-acre land transfer to the Park District would be at no cost to taxpayers.  If approved, 20% of the land for the Last Four Miles would be transferred to the Park District for a future 100-acre park on the south east side.  To follow the legislation, visit www.ilga.gov.   To learn more about the Friends of the Parks’ Last Four Miles Plan, visit www.fotp.org

A second bill to transfer 40 acres of unused Port District land along the eastern shore of Lake Calumet to the Chicago Park District was introduced as SB 3778.   SB 3778, if approved, would take a step in implementing the City of Chicago’s Lake Calumet Open Space Reserve Plan by providing 40 acres along the eastern shore of Lake Calumet for public recreation and conservation and link through a series of constructed and proposed trails to the Chicago lakefront trail.   There is no cost to taxpayers to transfer the 40-acre site to the Chicago Park District.

Click here to view links to maps identifying land identified in both senate bills