The city of Chicago has signed a $91,400 a month deal to lease the land in the Southwest Sides’s Brighton Park neighorhood where officials say they plan to build the first of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s migrant tent cities.
The deal to lease the land at 38th Street and California Avenue was signed Oct. 26, according to a copy of the lease agreement — before an environmental assessment of the former industrial site was completed.
Local Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th) said the deal was reached behind her back and without the community’s knowledge, leaving her “disappointed in the administration’s lack of transparency.”
The move by the city to sign the lease comes as almost 3,000 migrants remain at police stations, including nearly 700 minors, according to the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
The city “wishes to obtain a license from [property owner Barnacres Corporation] to use the Premises for the temporary housing of refugees,” according to the lease, “and to provide such refugees temporary shelter and human services offered by Licensee or another State of Illinois agency.”
The land may be used by the city “for the temporary housing of refugees,” according to the contract, “and to provide such refugees temporary shelter and human services offered by Licensee or a State of Illinois agency (including, without limitation, procuring other temporary or permanent housing, employment opportunities, and healthcare), and for no other purpose.”
Ramirez called on city officials to explain why she and community members were not notified.
“The city did not inform me that a lease had been signed,” Ramirez said Thursday evening in a statement to the Sun-Times.
“I continue to be frustrated and disappointed in the administration’s lack of transparency with my community and am deeply concerned that a lease would be signed prior to a full environmental assessment taking place. The city owes 12th ward residents an explanation.”
In a community meeting Thursday night, a city official said the environmental assessment began “last week” and that all the necessary samples had been collected by this Thursday. Test results were pending, said Deputy Mayor Lori Lypson.
The city does not have a timeline for when the camp would open, Lypson said. It would host 500 families to start and would potentially hold up to 2,000.
If the site “is deemed viable,” Lypson said the tents would likely be there for 180 days. The lease also includes an option to renew for two additional 6-month periods.
The move to use the site in the Brighton Park neighborhood has been contentious.
Community member Sonia Zhu gives public comment and holds up thousands of signatures demanding a stop to the cities plan of turning a city own lot at 38th Street and California Avenue in the Brighton Park Neighborhood, into a winterized “base camp” for Venezuelan Asylum Seekers, during a community meeting at Kelly High School.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times file
Rumors about it first spread in mid-October when city trucks were spotted at the site, leading to a protest on Oct. 19 that grew so contentious Ramirez and an aide had to be whisked away from it by Chicago Police.
On Oct. 23, the city confirmed it planned to use the site, pending environmental assessments, and on Thursday evening they reiterated that position.
“The City of Chicago has been identifying viable sites across the city to construct base camps as an alternative to new arrivals sleeping outdoors, at O’Hare and on the floors of police district stations as winter fast approaches,” according to the statement. “The site at 38th and California appears viable, and the intention is to construct [a] temporary shelter at this site.”
The site has a long history of industrial use, raising questions about the polluted soil and the health impact for the hundreds of people who would live there, the Sun-Times has reported.
At different times, the site was home to a zinc smelter, a potentially toxic operation that uses heat and chemicals to extract metals, and an underground diesel fuel tank that was removed in 1986, according information provided by a community-based environmental organization.
The city did not respond to direct questions about the lease being signed before the environmental assessment was completed.
“The city is currently performing work on the site to confirm the underlying infrastructure’s viability before initiating construction. The city will also notify residents of the outcome of this final assessment and share further operations details prior to placing any new arrivals into the facilities,” according to a city statement.
Johnson’s plan for tent cities for migrants has been met with mixed reactions.
A vote to purchase the land of the second tent site at 115th and Halsted streets was delayed Thursday. Ald. Ronnie Mosley (21st) had opposed it fearing it could interfere with a long-awaited development project on the site.
But, the Johnson administration has expressed its commitment to that development project, known as Morgan Park Commons, saying that is still the longrange plan for the site.
On the North Side, Ald. Samantha Nugent (39th) called the purchase of a former United States Marine Corps Facility for conversion into a temporary shelter a “tremendous opportunity.” That site currently holds upwards of 500 migrant families.
Other “potential uses for the property,” said Nugent, “could include working with Chicago Public Schools to create an early childhood learning center, or partnering with the Chicago Park District to make more riverfront parkland accessible to the community.”
Michael Loria is a staff reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South Side and West Side.