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Uptown residents continue battle after judge throws out Fix Wilson Yard suit

By Jeffrey Biertzer

July 1, 2009 – Fix Wilson Yard, a group of community members who oppose the current plans for the Wilson Yard Redevelopment Project in Uptown, will continue their battle with the City of Chicago after an appellate judge recently ruled against their lawsuit filed last December, citing statutes of limitations.

In early June, Fix Wilson Yard decided to file an amended lawsuit saying the City of Chicago failed to provide due process and violated the open meetings act.

Molly Phelan, president of Fix Wilson Yard, says changes in the redevelopment project, headed by Holsten Real Estate Development, were made without public notice in 2007 and should be considered in the five-year window provided by statutes of limitations.

The $150 million Wilson Yard Redevelopment Project would tap $52 million in tax increment funding (TIF). The project will redevelop the former Chicago Transit Authority bus barn that burned down in 1996, located between Wilson and Montrose Avenues and Broadway Street and the CTA Red line.

In 2001, the same redevelopment project proposed using $35 million in TIF funds.

Denice Davis, 46th ward chief of staff, says the increase in TIF funds for the redevelopment project will not cost local residents more than the original plan.

“We have more money coming in because of businesses coming in and the businesses that are already here have produced more money than first anticipated,” said Davis.

The original redevelopment plan included mixed-income housing, a movie theater, and retailers Target and Aldi’s.

Eight years after the original plans, Aldi’s was built but not in the original location in Wilson Yard, there are no plans for a movie theater, mixed-income housing is being replaced with low-income housing, and Target has not yet committed to build in the complex. Representatives for Target declined to comment.

“This was supposed to be a community process because it involves tax dollars,” said Phelan, who is also a property tax lawyer. “There was no process, the community was lied to, and the tax dollars were taken from them.”

“What needs to happen now is the community needs to be told the truth and need to be responded to in a proper way,” said Phelan. “The city has to be accountable for what it says to the community when it involves our tax dollars.”

Construction for the low-income housing started, but local residents say it’s not too late for changes.

“I’m not saying we can change the bricks and mortar, but we can have a say in what’s going to be there,” said Phelan.

“My hope is the community will rally around the building with the city and we’ll have mixed-income housing,” said resident Paul Herrmann, who plans to fight the current redevelopment plans for as long as it takes.

“You either continue fighting until the end or you give up and move out,” said Herrmann. “I’m not moving out.”

While residents are filing lawsuits to make TIF details public, Chicago aldermen have created a way to make information more available.

Ald. Manny Flores (1st) and Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) developed an ordinance to make TIF details more accessible to the public said 1st Ward chief of staff Raymond Valadez.

Starting July 30, the TIF Sunshine Ordinance will make it easier for local residents to get information about the city’s TIFs and how much money is spent each year from these accounts.

This ordinance will be used to avoid public secrecy, such as, Fix Wilson Yard’s complaints.

“I believe in disagreements; I think it’s healthy,” said Davis. “I think we may not completely agree, but we can sit down and come up with some kind of medium to what we both can live with.”

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