North Branch Works (NBW) is honored to have been selected as a community representative for the Lincoln Yards Community Advisory Council (LYCAC), which held its first meeting on June 15.

Lincoln Yards is a 55-acre, mixed-use development project (pictured) along the North Branch of the Chicago River that will run between North and Webster Avenues and across parts of Bucktown and Lincoln Park.

The purpose of LYCAC is to engage with the City of Chicago and Sterling Bay, the developer of Lincoln Yards, on a regular and consistent basis to review project status, including infrastructure design and serve as a community conduit for project concerns. The 14-member council includes four members from the 2nd Ward Zoning Board, three Lincoln Park/Bucktown community members, and subject matter experts in infrastructure, housing, planning, economic development, minority and women business enterprise participation, Tax Increment Financing, open space and the environment.

The meeting enabled council members to meet with each other and become acquainted with the developers and city officials who brought the project forward after approval of the North Branch Framework Plan. After presentations from Sterling Bay and the City of Chicago, members were able to ask questions and talk about their concerns which stimulated a productive dialogue.

Going forward, the council will meet quarterly with city officials and Sterling Bay to advise on various aspects of the project such as transportation, land use, open space, and business recruitment. Throughout the three-year commitment to participate on the council, NBW will advocate for the creation of living-wage job opportunities, especially opportunities that do not require an advanced degree. In order to make job opportunities accessible to all Chicagoans, NBW will push for investments in public transit options that help people get to places of employment safely and easily. These investments are critical to ensure traffic congestion does not increase with new development.

Although Lincoln Yards was approved as a Planned Development and TIF District in 2019, the role of LYCAC will be to advise Sterling Bay and the city on ways it can implement a project that's mindful of adjacent communities and addresses community concerns. NBW appreciates the responsibility it has to ensure this project strengthens residential communities, supports business opportunities and entrepreneurship, and creates jobs accessible to people throughout Chicago.

Do you have ideas and/or concerns about Lincoln Yards that you'd like advisory council to address? Please contact Jonathan Snyder, Executive Director, at 773-929-5552, jonathan@northbranchworks.org:10033

Image credits: Sterling Bay