While maintaining industrial jobs in the neighborhood is an important aspect of any future redevelopment of the CMD, the health and well-being of residents should be prioritized. A number of strategies can be used to mitigate potential adverse effects of industrial development, and balance environmental challenges with the economic benefits of industrial businesses.
Advocate for environmental justice and transparency in the development process
McKinley Park’s residents are engaged and passionate about improving the environmental quality of their neighborhood, as exemplified by the formation of the Neighbors for Environmental Justice group. An important accomplishment of this group is a resident-led initiative to install air quality monitors around the neighborhood, which allows community members to be more informed about McKinley Park’s air quality. Residents should continue to demonstrate leadership by advocating for environmental justice, and enhance these efforts by engaging the wider community and elected officials. Advocating for improved transparency in the development process, through activities like forming a volunteer zoning committee, is another way that McKinley Park residents can improve the environmental quality of their neighborhood. Community leaders should work with the neighborhood’s elected officials to ensure that residents can provide input on any major neighborhood development, and voice any concerns related to environmental or public health.
Target light industrial uses and modernize the CMD as a green manufacturing hub
The city’s zoning code permits light industrial uses, such as food manufacturing, in McKinley Park’s CMD and Planned Manufacturing Districts (PMD). Many of these types of businesses already operate in the neighborhood, and make up a substantial portion of McKinley Park’s industrial base. The CMD modernization efforts should build on already existing light industrial uses, and target non-intensive manufacturing businesses and sustainable renewal projects that will not have an adverse environmental impact on the surrounding community.
Case Study: The Future Baltimore Food Hub
The Baltimore Food Hub is a historic renovation project aimed at restoring a blighted, 3.5-acre brownfield with a campus of food related enterprises. The goal is to revitalize a former industrial site by growing food businesses that can provide accessible, quality jobs for the surrounding community. Potential businesses within the food hub include catering companies, food manufacturers, and wholesale distributors. Moreover, the campus will include shared commercial kitchens, workforce-training programs, and a business incubator for entrepreneurs in the food industry. The project is expected to bring more than 300 permanent jobs to a largely disinvested area with high rates of unemployment.
Case Study: Make City, ICNC’s Business Incubator
The Make City incubator is located in Chicago’s Kinzie Industrial Corridor and houses over 100 companies within three buildings on the Near West Side. The incubator was opened by the Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago (ICNC), which is a partner agency of the city’s Local Industrial Retention Initiative (LIRI) program. 20 The 416,000 square-foot incubator provides growing companies with affordable space, business assistance, workforce development programs, and an entrepreneurial community. Use of the incubator space is specifically intended for light industrial activities, including manufacturing of food and beverages, personal and home care products, clothes, and textiles.
Source: Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago
Prioritize pedestrians and bicyclists in modernization efforts
Currently, McKinley Park’s industrial areas lack proper pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, which discourages many residents to walking or biking through this portion of the neighborhood. Incorporating pedestrian and bicycle-oriented improvements, such as designated bike lanes, clearly marked crosswalks, and enhanced streetscapes would result in a safe and efficient transportation network for all users, and improved pedestrian and bicycle access to the river. MPDC should collaborate with aldermen, CDOT, and community stakeholders to identify and prioritize improvements to the right-of-way within the CMD. Modernization efforts that include new development and adaptive reuse projects should prioritize treatments such as wayfinding, street furniture, bike parking, creative drinking water fountains, and public art to make the experience of walking and biking even better (see Chapter 5 for illustration examples).
Create ecologically functioning and aesthetically pleasing landscapes to buffer freight activity from nearby residential uses
While freight activity in McKinley Park provides economic benefits to the region’s industrial sector, it can have adverse effects on nearby residential areas. Truck and rail traffic can cause noise, congestion, and negative air quality impacts. One way to reduce the impact of freight activity on McKinley Park’s residents is to use landscape buffers to minimize the interference of freight on the community’s quality of life. Creating landscape buffers between freight intensive activities and residential areas can insert space between these two incompatible uses. The use of a landscape buffer in strategic locations, particularly in areas where residential property lines are next to industrial uses, could provide an aesthetically pleasing barrier to help improve issues of noise and air pollution. See recommendation 7.4 under the Enhance and Expand Parks and Recreational Opportunities chapter for opportunities to create landscape buffers for any new development along Bubbly Creek.
Figure 6.1 Example of Landscape Buffer
Source: Courtesy of Keep Waxahachie Beautiful
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