Kedzie Sustainability District
Kailey Nelson
3/12/2022
Green Hub Development Plan: The Kedzie District, East Garfield Park Chicago
Introduction
Chicago’s East Garfield Park neighborhood is a historic area that is home to nearly 20,000 residents and a variety of businesses and community centers. More specifically, over 16,000 residents are living in the smaller neighborhood within a half mile of the CTA Kedzie Green Line stop. This neighborhood is nestled amongst the beautiful Garfield Park Conservatory, cozy residential streets and community staples including churches, schools and gardens- all of which add to the area’s appeal.
Kedzie & Lake
East Garfield Park was once a growing neighborhood with a thriving commercial district on Madison Avenue, experiencing a population boost after World War I and economic success. However, the Great Depression in the 1930s began a period of disinvestment followed by the construction of the Eisenhower Expressway in the 1950s, which bisected the Garfield Park neighborhood and caused widespread displacement. In the decades following, white flight to the suburbs exacerbated trends of population decline and disinvestment. Today, vacant lots and old manufacturing facilities are scattered amongst the community’s homes, businesses, and elementary schools, ultimately contributing to neighborhood blight.
Map of Chicago Neighborhoods
Starting in 2023, the Kedzie District in East Garfield Park will be a jumping off point for redirecting investment to the city’s West Side and reviving the culturally rich communities that call it home. This district in particular has several vacant or underdeveloped lots which were previously used for industrial or manufacturing purposes. These lots are currently detracting from the functionality of the surrounding neighborhood and could be redeveloped in order to better serve the community and generate revenue.
The city of Chicago needs to invest in thoughtful and efficient development that will be not only profitable, but will have favorable impacts on social equity and will be resilient given the growing impacts of climate change. The Kedzie District has many of the components necessary to be a thriving neighborhood, however empty lots and an outdated streetscape threaten to diminish the area’s potential. The Green Hub Development Plan seeks to utilize several of the vacant or underdeveloped lots surrounding the Kedzie stop in order to facilitate locally beneficial developments, helping to redirect investment back into the community. Selective development directly surrounding the CTA stop and an improved streetscape will also promote transit use and increase the neighborhood’s accessibility for multiple forms of transportation, including additional bike infrastructure and an improved pedestrian experience. A focus on modern, green infrastructure updates and more vegetated spaces will help remediate the neighborhood’s extremely high flood risk while making the streetscape more attractive and more comfortable.
New developments such as the Hatchery in 2017 have the potential to send the Kedzie neighborhood in an exciting direction, however there is a critical need to balance these new development prospects with the needs of the existing community. As a lower income neighborhood, East Garfield will benefit from affordable and mixed income housing interspersed with realistic commercial developments.
The Hatchery Chicago
This framework will provide an analysis of the current neighborhood demographics and assess their needs accordingly. Finally, the proposal will lay out several recommendations for an updated urban design plan that will benefit the Kedzie community in a diverse number of ways.
The Kedzie District Today
The Kedzie neighborhood as it stands today is home to several quiet, residential streets, Beidler Elementary School and scattered small businesses. Most of the housing stock in the area is older, multi family homes with several two or three bedroom units.
Beidler Elementary School
Garfield Park Homes
Much like many other neighborhoods in East Garfield Park, these residential streets are interrupted by a number of large empty lots and old manufacturing facilities. The Kedzie District specifically focuses on a few blocks immediately surrounding the intersection of Kedzie & Lake; this area is not only a transit hub, but also includes a concentration of several vacant parcels which give it great potential.
Main Site
Auxiliary Sites
Auxiliary Sites
Demographic Data
The total population for East Garfield Park in 2020 was just under 20,000 residents, implying a 2.8% decrease from the 2010 Census data and a 4.3% decrease since 2000. The neighborhood is evidently showing consistent trends of population decline from the last 20 years; this is likely a result of disinvestment and presents an opportunity to make the Kedzie District a more attractive neighborhood. A majority of the population is younger or middle aged, with over half of the residents under the age of 34. This is indicative of a population that will be likely to engage with vibrant public spaces as well as one that will make use of public transit and other forms of transit outside the single occupancy vehicle.
East Garfield Park is a neighborhood with a high proportion of households of color. About 88% of the population is Black, followed by 6% white residents and just under 3% Hispanic or Latino. Roughly half of East Garfield Park residents have a household income of less than $25,000 per year, with an additional 22% making less than $50,000 per year. This neighborhood is a typically low income area and therefore it will be necessary to ensure that any planned developments will be beneficial for local residents. A map below shows the median household income for the Kedzie District in particular, indicating that the income level for people in this smaller neighborhood is in line with or slightly below the averages for East Garfield Park as a whole.
A large majority of the population in this neighborhood has not had access to higher education; a total of 76% have no college degree, and just over 20% have no high school diploma or equivalent. Being a lower income neighborhood, resources for higher education are limited and this is something that could be improved with the interruption of cyclical disinvestment. Furthermore, over 30% of residents are without Internet access. This is another detail that should be taken into account when considering resources that would best benefit the community.
It is also worth noting that of the occupied housing stock in East Garfield Park, roughly 77% is occupied by renters. The map below shows the current distribution of affordable rental housing projects in Chicago.
You’ll notice a significantly less dense concentration of affordable rental options on the far west side of the city. Because the East Garfield Park neighborhood has a large population of younger and low income individuals, there is a relatively high demand for affordable rental housing units. The housing stock around the Kedzie District consists largely of older, multi unit homes with roughly two thirds of these units being two or three bedrooms. This data suggests that there may be a market for smaller single occupancy units that would be available for mixed income residents.
Transit Use
The Kedzie District has especially strong transit access; it immediately surrounds the CTA Kedzie green line stop where there is also a Divvy bike station. The 52 and 82 buses both have stops within the planning district itself and the 20 bus is also accessible just a couple blocks to the south. There is even a Kedzie stop on the Union Pacific Metra line which is located north of the site, accessible via the 52 bus. It is clear that this neighborhood has several transit outlets available; however, the intersection of the main transit hub including the CTA stop and the Divvy Station is underutilized and wastes the area’s incredible connectivity. A major facet of this plan is to revive this hub with an engaging community space to further encourage the use of alternative transportation.
Ridership data from the Kedzie green line stop shows significantly higher rider counts on weekdays than on weekends or holidays, implying that it is being used most heavily by commuters. This presents an opportunity for new developments in the area that might draw more interaction with transit for non commuter purposes such as errands or recreation. The station saw an expected drop in ridership following the pandemic in 2020 that was consistent with other transit stations, however weekday rides have been climbing back up at a faster rate than those on weekends. RTA data from November of 2021 showed that weekday rides were at nearly half of pre-pandemic levels, indicating that transit use is back on the rise especially for commuters. The following plot shows ridership at the Kedzie green line stop over the past several years.
Data suggests that residents of East Garfield Park are mainly using two modes of travel for their daily commutes: single occupancy vehicles and public transit. There are encouraging trends showing that a higher percentage of residents are commuting via transit than in previous years, with nearly 37% of the population using transit in 2019. It is clear that residents of this neighborhood are making use of the available transit, although there could be a greater focus on increasing the connectivity of transit with other modes like walking and biking. Using Chicago’s Complete Streets Framework as a guideline, it is clear that there is room for improvement in terms of making the streetscape more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists. This neighborhood in particular is home to both an elementary school and a boys and girls club, making it especially beneficial to have crosswalks and other safety features that keep streets functional for children and other pedestrians.
Cycling is another mode of transport that could be made more accessible through improved infrastructure and safety measures. There is currently a Divvy station at the Kedzie District’s central intersection, Kedzie & Lake. The map below shows Divvy trip data from 2019, specifically the origin points for trips ending at the Kedzie & Lake station.
Most of the trips that originated at the Kedzie & Lake terminated closer to the Loop, implying use by commuters. Several trips also terminated back at the original station or at a station relatively close, which indicates more use for round trips or local errands. This data is encouraging as it shows that residents are making use of the Divvy station located within the Kedzie District, both for commuter trips downtown and for more local rides. This is promising in terms of the Green Hub Development goals and provides further incentives to develop additional cycling infrastructure in these neighborhoods.
Zoning Codes
Much of the area directly along Kedzie Avenue is currently zoned as C1-3, a neighborhood commercial district. This includes retail storefronts and permits apartments above the ground floor. It also allows more business types than standard B-1 districts including liquor stores, warehouses and auto shops. The existing zoning along Kedzie Avenue provides a great starting point for making Kedzie a lively and engaging streetscape lined with mixed use developments and apartments throughout.
Zoning Map
Much of the existing vacant land along the CTA tracks was previously used for industrial purposes and is zoned accordingly as M1-2 or M1-3, for limited manufacturing or a business park district. These lots permit light manufacturing, warehouses and wholesalers, but would likely need to be rezoned to be conducive to more mixed use development. Zoning codes exist largely to prevent harmful industry from encroaching on residential areas, however it is clear that these codes are outdated and have not evolved with the East Garfield Park neighborhood. Today, these lots are surrounded by residential blocks, elementary schools, churches and more. Newer plans for the neighborhood seek to update these underutilized lots so that they fit in better with the existing landscape. It is worth noting, however, that the existing zoning does permit urban farming including indoor, outdoor, and rooftop operations up to 3,000 ft2. Urban farming is a supplementary use for the land that could be particularly useful during an interim period before the lots are rezoned.
Sustainability Planning
In 2022, it is critical that urban development places a focus on sustainability and building resilient neighborhoods that will remain functional for years to come. Holistically, a sustainable community is one that is environmentally conscious, economically productive, and socially equitable. This section will detail several recommendations in order to improve the neighborhood’s sustainability, particularly in the ecological sense.
Stormwater Infrastructure and Greenspace
One of the greatest challenges facing the neighborhood from a sustainability perspective is the especially high flood risk and poor management of excess stormwater. Chicago is a city that is served by a 99.5% combined sewage system, making it especially vulnerable to overflow and flooding. In addition to flooding being inconvenient and costly, stormwater runoff is the leading cause of surface water pollution in urban areas. A study by the Center for Neighborhood Technology found that the two zip codes within the Kedzie District have some of the highest concentrations of flood insurance claims filed between the years 2007 and 2016, which is shown in the graphic below.
Flood Claim Map
Since the study was conducted, the Chicagoland area has seen trends of increasing heavy precipitation 9and more frequent storms. The risk of flooding has only intensified as climate change has progressed, implying an even greater need for infrastructure updates. Green stormwater infrastructure focuses on increasing permeable area in order to minimize excess stormwater, especially through the use of greenspace and vegetation. These features effectively reduce stormwater runoff while providing a diverse variety of other benefits to the community; research has shown that green infrastructure can effectively reduce the urban heat island effect, ultimately leading to lower heat related mortality. Other benefits include reduced maintenance costs compared to traditional stormwater infrastructure and can extend to other social benefits such as reduced crime in the area. East Garfield Park is an area with a significant stormwater issue and should be high priority for these updates, especially being one of the city’s lower income neighborhoods.
The Kedzie District today is located withtin the vicinity of a few community gardens including the 3317 West Walnut Garden and the Kuumba Tre-Ahm Community Garden on Warren Boulevard. These gardens provide a number of services to the community including permeable area, local greenspace, and an opportunity for residents to grow produce within their neighborhood. Especially given the number of vacant lots in East Garfield, the addition of more community gardens and small parks will be a great resource for residents and promote sustainable practices such as locally grown foods. On a larger scale, permeable area can be increased through the addition of green roofs on new developments.
Kuumba Tre-Ahm Community Garden
The Hatchery is a recent development within the Kedzie District that went up in 2017; it is a large facility that works to provide job training and resources for local food businesses. As new developments around the Kedzie District are outfitted with green roofs and more community gardens are integrated into the neighborhood, there is a great opportunity for the Hatchery to connect with local businesses and make use of locally sourced produce.
Chicago Complete Streets Framework
The East Garfield Park neighborhood is one that makes use of available transit and the residents are less likely to own a vehicle than in other areas of Chicago. Roughly 45% of the population in this neighborhood do not own a vehicle, making it particularly important that the area is navigable and accessible via other modes of transportation. The Complete Streets Framework is a tool used to assess an area’s general accessibility as well as provide guidelines for making improvements; it provides a model for the kind of pedestrian friendly community that would be ideal for the residents of the Kedzie District.
Within the total district area, there are several intersections and streets that could be improved in order to be safer and more inclusive for cyclists and pedestrians. Furthermore, this plan seeks to further encourage the use of public transit by facilitating easy access and convenience. Implementing the Complete Streets Framework in the area, particularly on key corridors like Kedzie Avenue, will increase connectivity and make streets safer for residents.
Complete Streets
Complete Streets
Kedzie Avenue is the primary target for these improvements as it is a central street to the district and provides a direct route to several different transit options. By making this street more accessible to transportation other than single occupancy vehicles will provide an easier connection between green and blue line CTA stops as well as the Metra stop directly to the north. Furthermore, there are existing bike lanes running east-west on Lake Street and Washington Boulevard; a more complete street on Kedzie will link the current routes and facilitate easier, safer travel for cyclists in the north-south direction. In addition to new, protected bike lanes on Kedzie, the existing cycling infrastructure should be updated in the interest of safety and accessibility. Current bike lanes on Lake and Washington are barely marked and unprotected; Washington Boulevard specifically has a lane marked in only one direction of travel. In the interest of encouraging more sustainable modes of transportation, the neighborhood is in need of safer and more consistent accommodations for biking.
Washington Boulevard Bike Lane
In addition to promoting safety for cyclists, Complete Streets provides a number of guidelines for making a community more easily accessible for pedestrians. Especially given the location of the elementary school in the heart of this district, the neighborhood’s younger population, and the portion of residents that are without access to a vehicle, the ability to safely navigate the neighborhood on foot is essential. For this reason, Kedzie Avenue and several other key intersections in the district should be outfitted with fully functional crosswalks and additional traffic calming measures to ensure that streets are catering to everyone as opposed to vehicles alone.
Pedestrian Crossing
Finally, accommodations for the Kedzie Avenue bus route would be a significant way to encourage transit use and would allow for a quick and easy connection between CTA and Metra stops. Existing bus stops along Kedzie and other streets are marked by a small flag and are typically uncovered, with no place to sit and no information about upcoming bus times. Recommendations would be to improve these stops with sheltered waiting areas and benches as well as current scheduling information so as to minimize inconvenience while waiting for transit. An updated streetscape with a designated bus lane would create a seamless and comfortable experience for riders and provide an incentive for those who wish to avoid vehicle traffic.
Kedzie Avenue Bus Stop
Especially in a lower income neighborhood where less of the population has access to a vehicle, neighborhood accessibility is of the utmost importance. Updating the streets to be safer and more navigable via walking, cycling, and transit will make the community more accommodating to a larger portion of residents and will further encourage the use of existing transit and local amenities.
Site Plan and Recommendations
The many vacant and underutilized lots in the Kedzie District can be some of the area’s assets in terms of development potential. Located right in the heart of a dense, residential neighborhood and immediately near several transit outlets, these parcels of land can become integrated developments that benefit the local residents while drawing investment to the area.
One of the largest vacant lots within the district is located at 3001-3049 W Lake Street, near Beidler Elementary and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boys and Girls Club. This lot is the perfect size for a large, mixed use development that will include a community center or other resources on the lower floors as well as affordable housing on the upper floors. This development is inspired by a similar project in Northwest Chicago; the Independence Library at 4024 N Elston Avenue is a building featuring a library and community center on the lower two levels with one and two bedroom affordable housing units on top, complete with a rooftop garden. Given the high percentage of East Garfield Park residents who are young renters and the demand for smaller units, a development like this one could really meet the needs of the community.
Independence Library
Green Roof at the Independence Library
The concept of a library, community center, or other educational resource is also something that could be immensely beneficial to the neighborhood. Combined with a safer, more pedestrian friendly streetscape, a library would be a great asset to the nearby elementary school and boys and girls club. Furthermore, as a community with limited access to amenities such as internet or higher education, this type of development could provide helpful resources to local residents.
Green roofing on this development and others within the district will create large, permeable surfaces to drain off excess stormwater; the addition of green infrastructure is another key component of the plan for the Kedzie District. Being an area with such significant flood risk, the creation of greenspace and the use of vegetation within the streetscape will be a key way to remediate flooding while creating a number of other community benefits. The addition of components like street trees, planter boxes and bioswales will add to the street’s aesthetic appeal as well as reducing the urban heat island effect, ultimately encouraging local pedestrian traffic.
Green Streetscape
Beyond the street trees and green infrastructure updates, the streetscape should further be improved with other pedestrian friendly installments such as more frequent (LED) streetlamps, more frequent crosswalks, curb bump outs and other traffic calming measures.
Traffic Calming Intersection
Smaller sites within the district should also be developed to be mixed use projects, ideally with affordable, mixed income housing on top of functional commercial options such as full service grocery. The integration of useful retail outlets will give local residents the convenience of walking or biking from their homes; it will also encourage commuters using nearby transit to spend money at these shops, thus bringing investment back into the community.
The use of transit should be further encouraged by the employment of the Complete Streets Framework, integrating inclusive infrastructure into the streetscape so as to make them accessible for pedestrians, cyclists, transit passengers and drivers alike. Focusing especially on key corridors like Kedzie Avenue, a more accessible street will facilitate easier connections between various CTA and Metra stops.
Next Steps
The Kedzie District is just one of what will hopefully be several plans aimed at sustainable urban development in some of Chicago’s less invested communities. Neighborhoods on the city’s west side are often more economically and racially diverse, posing much different development needs than more affluent areas. It is critical to modern sustainability that urban design is mindful of these differences, catering to the needs of existing residents rather than another, potentially targeted audience of wealthier stakeholders. Community engagement is a necessary piece to ensure that neighborhood development is moving in a positive and functional direction; for this reason, the Green Hub Development team plans to meet continuously with local stakeholders in order to reassess how new developments are serving the area. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, planners and developers will monitor relevant trends such as transit ridership, real estate values, stormwater risk, and others, adjusting the framework and future plans as necessary. Some of the specific indicators are as follows:
Is transit ridership at relevant CTA and Metra stops increasing, decreasing, or remaining relatively constant?
A big part of the Green Hub Development goal is to encourage transit use through selective development around transit hubs. This indicator will involve the monitoring of transit data including ridership at the Kedzie CTA and Metra train stops as well as the several CTA bus routes within the district. Trends of increasing ridership would potentially imply a correlation between new developments and additional transit use, indicating some degree of success.
Are more residents choosing to get around via walking, cycling, and transit? Are these methods of transportation accessible and safe?
In addition to transit ridership, data regarding the use of local Divvy Stations and changes in commuter patterns will be useful to gauge whether residents of East Garfield Park are making increased use of these alternative modes of transportation. Making sure that vehicle crashes and pedestrian fatalities are remaining as low as possible will also be an important part of the ongoing assessment.
Have the number of flood claims gone down? Is green infrastructure effectively improving the landscape and the neighborhood experience?
Continuing to track the number of flood insurance claims filed in the area will provide some insight as to whether or not infrastructure updates are actually reducing the amount of stormwater runoff, thus reducing flooding events. Furthermore, statistics such as crime data and heat related mortality can also point to relevant trends related to the benefits of additional greenery in a community. This is one indicator where qualitative interviews would be particularly beneficial; residents may be able to provide useful feedback about their own experience with flooding and the overall impacts of green infrastructure in the neighborhood.
Are new affordable housing units being filled and meeting the needs of the community?
A great deal of analysis went into the decision to prioritize affordable housing units in new developments, especially a number of smaller units geared towards individual renters. Another strong indicator of the success of these developments will be whether or not these units are consistently being filled, as well as remaining demand for additional affordable housing. This will require consistent monitoring of the available and occupied housing stock and local real estate values.
How are neighborhood demographics changing?
Being a lower income neighborhood with a high concentration of households of color, it is especially important to keep track of demographic trends like median income level, racial makeup, and local rental prices. Green Hub Development seeks to build social equity; in order for the project to be successful, investment should be drawn to the area without driving up rental costs or attracting wildly different demographics. Keeping a close watch on these relevant changes will be essential not only for assessing the developments’ success, but also for adapting the plan to be as functional and beneficial as possible going forward.
All of these questions will be important to the ongoing assessment of the plan’s success, ultimately working towards economic, ecological, and social sustainability with a focus on equity. Chicago is a major city that needs to keep up with emerging development trends while also responding to the mounting pressures of climate change and a changing economy. The city’s West side has been experiencing disinvestment for decades and is in need of updated infrastructure, affordable housing and revitalization of vacant lots. The Green Hub Development Project is a perfect opportunity to redirect investment into West side neighborhoods like East Garfield Park while prioritizing sustainable development that is functional for local communities.
Planned Development in East Garfield Park