Using $750,000 in city fees collected to establish open space, the Chicago Park District plans to create a quarter-acre park at the northeast corner of Noble and Blackhawk Streets in the West Town neighborhood, officials said Tuesday.
If the purchase is approved by the Park District Board of Commissioners at its Wednesday meeting, $550,000 would be used to buy the land (roughly 104 feet square), and the rest would be used for an environmental cleanup and to create the park. CorLands, a non-profit group that helps governments acquire open space, would buy the land, and the Park District would pay it back.
West Town has “an open-space deficit” and opportunities for land acquisition “are rare,” according to a Park District memo. The $750,000 would come from fees collected from residential developers to create recreational and open-space facilities.
