Issues and Concerns

Some of the most common hesitations about expanding the lakefront trail

Expanding Lake Shore Drive

The vast majority of Edgewater and Rogers Park residents, especially any who live along the lakeshore, oppose expanding the lakefront trail if it means expanding Lake Shore Drive. The two have been inextricably linked ever since the city used lake fill to create Lincoln Park and expand Lake Shore Drive. In the last three years, two referenda to expand Lake Shore Drive have been soundly defeated -- and as a result the gaps in the lakeshore path remain.

Property values

Lakefront property owners know that the fact that their property abuts the lake makes it more valuable. They are wary of any effort that would add lakefill. Previous plans to expand Lake Shore Drive would have meant property owners would have had to sacrifice lakefront property for a front-row seat to the highway. And worse, some plans called for adding enough lakefill as to allow new residential and commerical development.

Street-end Beaches

One of the characteristic features of Edgewater and Rogers Park are their street-end beaches, where east-west streets virtually dead-end onto the beach. Some residents worry that expanding the lakeshore trail would make the street-end beaches less visible and harder to access.

Ecological Impact

Ecologists and geologists long ago determined that lakefill can impact the lakeshore ecosystem. Several regional governing bodies already monitors and strictly control what lakefill gets added and is particularly strict about preventing any changes to the lake's natural littoral drift. Some advocates for adding new lakefill, however, say that doing so could actually improve the lakeshore ecosystem with vegetation and habitat for small fishes.

Park maintenance

Even though Rogers Park is one of the city's most park-poor neighborhoods, many of its residents say the city does not maintain well enough what few parks exist. Until the city shows it can better maintain those parks -- both on the lake and to the west -- some residents are reluctant to allow the Parks District to take on any more properties.

Cost

Previous proposals have been vague both on how much it would cost to expand the trail and where the money would come from. Friends of the Parks say that their new plans, to be released in May 2009, will include and itemized breakdown of what it would cost to expand the trail piece by piece.