Dearborn Park Community Group sues South Loop Elementary, CPS, and CPD

By Julie Sommarco

The Chicago Park District (CPD), at the request of South Loop Elementary School, recently allowed the school to built a fence around Mary Richardson Jones Park, located next to the school in the 1200 block of south Plymouth Ct. The Dearborn Park Community Group (DPCG), which opposes the fence, took legal action.

Judge Stuart Palmer gave the DPGC and representatives from South Loop Elementary and the CPD 35 days to discuss a compromise. The time limit lapsed Oct. 18, and representatives from the three groups met in court.

DPCG leader Michael Shapow said, “We reported to the judge that CPS [Chicago Public Schools] and Chicago Park District attorneys met with us one time for about an hour and just said 'no' to any proposal modifying the fence that we presented." Although Shapow felt the CPD attorney “seemed to be willing to compromise, the CPS attorney was pretty well dug in. The only compromise CPS offered was they would agree to not put locks on the gates—which really misses the point of the community's objection to the fence.”

At the Oct. 18 hearing, Judge Palmer asked all parties if they would be interested in having the court appoint a mediator to solve the issue. The DPCG agreed; the CPS attorney eventually said a client discussion was needed before deciding. “The CPD attorney said nothing but I think would go along with whatever CPS wants to do,” said Shapow.

To fence opponents, “The primary issue is the parkland known as Mary Richardson Jones Park was deeded to the Chicago Park District by the developers of our community with the intention that the park would remain open to the community and free from any buildings, structures, etc. or anything that would detract from the aesthetics of the neighborhood," Shapow said.

"The open, green park was an essential aspect of the development, and many of us paid a premium to live across from it," he continued. "Houses that face park side sell, on average, 26% higher than those not on the park. This development plan was filed officially as part of a Planned Residential Development, which is in effect a zoning law. To change this zoning is a big deal. You have to have numerous public hearings and filings, etc., that often take over a year to accomplish and are rarely successful changing the zoning plan. None of that process occurred before the fence was installed. So we are suing CPS, CPD, and the school for violating this zoning law.

“CPS doesn't own the parkland, yet they fenced it in for their benefit over widespread community opposition," Shapow continued. "Over 700 residents signed a petition a year ago expressing their opposition to the fence. Now that we filed suit, about 300 people have added their names as plaintiffs, either as individuals or as members of their homeowners' association, and have contributed funds and pledged even more to continue the fight.

"We've been told that CPS has done this type of land grab in the past, but most communities don't get past the writing a letter to the Mayor and a few angry letters to the newspaper. Few communities are organized well enough to file a lawsuit and to fund it to fight them. CPS readily admits they don't own the land that they fenced in. They've tried to pin the blame on the Chicago Park District, [which] was supposed to hold the land for the community's benefit but gave permission to CPS to install the fence without regard for the community. CPD says they only gave permission to CPS because they got a letter from Alderman [Robert] Fioretti giving permission, even though he provided the community with a letter stating he didn't support the fence around the entire park during his election campaign," Shapow continued.

"There's a lot of passing the buck, and nobody seems willing to step up to the plate and do what's right," Shapow said.

"That's another reason for the lawsuit—to get the politicians to do the right thing.”

Both CPS and South Loop School officials declined comment.