Community meeting held to discuss Francis W. Parker School's proposed expansion in Lincoln Park
A community meeting was held to discuss the proposal by the Francis W. Parker School to acquire more neighboring condos in Lincoln Park.
The school is looking to get things up and running by 2027, but before they move any bricks, the city has to approve it, and some neighbors simply do not support this expansion.
Principal Dan Frank said that while they plan to expand the school into another one of the residential buildings nearby, they also plan to turn one of their old buildings right here across the street from us into affordable housing. However, neighbors opposing the expansion said it'll be disruptive.
As of now, the school stretches along Clark Street between Webster and Belden, with the athletic field going east across to Lincoln Avenue.
The principal said the plan is to preserve the exterior façade of the building and add a pedestrian overpass across the back alley, which is a similar design to the condos they took over in 2019. The new building would bring in 125 new students over seven years and give financial aid access to over 60 additional students. The proposal also includes installing extra lighting in the athletic field to give students more practice and game time.
Ahead of Tuesday night's meeting, petition flyers were seen circulating on social media saying "STOP PARKER, Save Our Community." Neighbors are concerned about the lights shining into their homes, creating more traffic, and that the building they're trying to take over on Belden is vintage and awaiting landmark designation.
"We've listened very carefully to neighborhood associations, immediate individual neighbors, the alderman's office, to make sure that what we're doing resonates in really healthy ways for the school, for the neighborhood, and for the City of Chicago, and that's not only for people who are here now. This is a vision also for the future," Frank said.
"In my mind, the two big things they're gonna do is impacting my quality of life by extending the school. How long is … you know, 5 o'clock, right now, shuts down, and it's back to the quiet neighborhood, and they're just going to remove residents from the neighbor," said Jeannie Barkan.
During the meeting, residents, including Scott Yoder and others, packed this auditorium. Ald. Timmy Knudsen (43rd) called the community meeting at the school after several neighbors expressed ongoing frustrations with how Parker wants to move forward.
Yoder's home sits adjacent to the playing field, and part of the upgrades means spotlights will be installed. The switch to turn them would happen as early as 6:15 a.m. and run until 9:15 p.m.
"They agreed 12 or 13 years ago to not ever put in lights, but now they've changed their mind because it's to their benefit," he said.
The school insisted the lighting will not glare over to neighbors as they are new state-of-the-art designs.
"They may be state of the art, I don't buy it won't have an impact on the residences next to that field," Yoder said.
Parker has made several accommodations to the proposal, even reducing the height to keep from blocking neighbors' views. Many in the room supported the plans.
"It seems to me they are really taking the community request and caring about what people are asking for in trying to be a good neighbor," said Taylor Sullivan. "It does seem that like no amount of negotiations is going to make certain people happy."
The office of Ald. Knudsen sent a statement ahead of the meeting, saying this is the first step in the community engagement process, and they're committed to ensuring that every voice has an opportunity to be heard as the conversation moves forward.
If the school's proposal is approved and passes through city protocols, school officials said the additional athletic field and neighborhood lights could go in by next summer, with the new building renovations beginning by 2028.