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https://www.chicagotribune.com/polit...7y4-story.html

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Long-running federal review into Obama center concludes, groundbreaking tentatively set for 2021

A federal review into the historic effects of former President Barack Obama’s proposed presidential center in Jackson Park officially concluded Thursday afternoon, further dashing hopes of opposition groups troubled by the impact of future construction on the storied South Side park.

Officials finalized a memorandum of agreement that caps off the presidential center’s three-year Section 106 federal review, the longest out of several triggered by the Obama Foundation’s decision to locate the future complex on historic property. Other reviews into mitigating environmental impacts as well as protecting public parkland remain ongoing, although the foundation announced earlier this month that groundbreaking for the center is slated to begin in 2021.

“The completion of this step of the federal review is the result of years of hard work by Mayor Lightfoot, community leaders, environmentalists and park enthusiasts,” a foundation representative wrote in a statement. “We celebrate this milestone with all those who have taken the time out of their busy schedules to help us reimagine what is possible in Jackson Park with the OPC.”

The $500 million Obama Presidential Center is expected to be a sprawling campus that will house the Obama Foundation offices and include spaces for large gatherings, an athletic center and a public library branch. In addition, the campus will have outdoor recreation areas including a sledding hill and walking paths.

But a process known as Section 106 was triggered in December 2017 because the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act requires federal agencies to sign off on changes that may affect historic properties such as Jackson Park. The Federal Highway Administration worked with the city to consider roadway changes and potential mitigations in order to allow it to approve upcoming transportation project funding.

When the first draft was rolled out this summer, the finalized MOA was met with condemnation from some local groups in support of preserving Jackson Park as is. But dozens of other parties concurred with the final report.

The nonprofit Jackson Park Watch, a dogged adversary of the presidential center’s proposed site, suggested a number of changes that were ignored, although the group was not required to sign off on it. Its president, Brenda Nelms, said earlier this week her lack of say had “set a very bad precedent” for undercutting community input.

“It was really a travesty … that ignored the realities of what the impact on the historic resources of the park, how they would be affected by the current plans for the Obama center,” Nelms said.

Under the MOA, the city will be required the rehab the English Stone Comfort Station as well as the Statue of the Republic in the park. The eastern chunk of Midway Plaisance will see a new “play area” designed by the city, which also must work up materials to educate the community about the significance of Jackson Park.

The presidential center’s location on park land was at the heart of another fight, this time in the courts. A lawsuit over the planned center’s campus in Jackson Park was effectively killed in August after a federal appeals court panel ruled the plaintiffs did not suffer actual harm and that much of their grievances were not within the court’s jurisdiction. But its chief litigant is vowing to appeal up to the Supreme Court.