Match Point! Conservancy's marine engineers refute CDOT's "failed" verdict and declare the limestone revetment safe and sound
Promontory Point Conservancy received a leak from a very reliable source in the City this past May that CDOT had conducted an assessment that determined Promontory Point’s revetment had “failed”. We were urged to concede defeat and “compromise" to CDOT’s plans. CDOT's "failed" determination allows the City and the Corps to bypass landmark protections, and demolish the limestone revetment and replace it with concrete. At our request and having completed its site visits, the Conservancy's marine engineers agreed to issue a letter refuting CDOT’s assessment of “failed". McLaren Engineering Group concludes: "It is McLaren's professional assessment that the limestone revetment currently functions as the original design intended, is not in danger of collapse, and provides adequate shore protection. Further, it is our opinion that, with maintenance and repairs, the service life of the structure can be significantly extended, obviating the need for major demolition and replacement." Read more.
Read McLaren's preliminary condition letter here. Make a donation to support our efforts to protect and preserve the Point!
Read McLaren's preliminary condition letter here. Make a donation to support our efforts to protect and preserve the Point!
Vanishing Point: newly funded design and construction at Promontory Point
The City (Chicago Department of Transportation: CDOT), the Chicago Park District and the Chicago Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) have quietly colluded to condemn the limestone revetment at Promontory Point as “failed”. Right now, the City’s plan will demolish the limestone revetment and replace it with a concrete structure for at least twice the cost of repairing and preserving the limestone structure.
This quarter, CDOT will release its RFQ/RFP for a $5m planning and design study of Promontory Point. And in December 2022, a WRDA appropriation funded construction at Promontory Point in Spring 2026. The Corps has made it publicly explicit that “the original shoreline structures ... no longer function” and it will “replace existing infrastructure and construct new structures.” Replacement with a new concrete structure violates the preservation legally required at Promontory Point. And, there is no basis whatsoever for such conclusions and statements: that the limestone revetment at Promontory Point functions as well as the surrounding concrete is self-evident to anyone who walks the Point. It does, however, need preserving and fixing.
The community, with past and present aldermanic support, has fought for 23 years to preserve the historic limestone revetment and has hired its own marine engineers four times over the 23 years. These studies repeatedly show that the limestone revetment has not failed, and that repair of the limestone revetment is feasible and cheaper than the City’s plan for demolition and replacement with concrete. This City-sponsored, back-room, top-down decree for concrete is a holdover from the days of Meig’s Field and the parking-meter deal. CDOT and the Corps’ condemning the Point as “failed”, however, allows the bureaucrats to evade the protections guaranteed by the recent Chicago Landmark Designation and the National Register Listing, and bulldoze the 23-year community struggle to save and preserve the limestone revetment. This struggle is the effort to preserve the South Side community that has formed around this place for many decades. Demolishing the Point demolishes our community.
We cannot endorse a grossly over-priced, over-engineered, overhaul of Promontory Point that ignores community input, the legitimate community preservation plan, and the nearly unanimous community support for preservation at the Point.
This quarter, CDOT will release its RFQ/RFP for a $5m planning and design study of Promontory Point. And in December 2022, a WRDA appropriation funded construction at Promontory Point in Spring 2026. The Corps has made it publicly explicit that “the original shoreline structures ... no longer function” and it will “replace existing infrastructure and construct new structures.” Replacement with a new concrete structure violates the preservation legally required at Promontory Point. And, there is no basis whatsoever for such conclusions and statements: that the limestone revetment at Promontory Point functions as well as the surrounding concrete is self-evident to anyone who walks the Point. It does, however, need preserving and fixing.
The community, with past and present aldermanic support, has fought for 23 years to preserve the historic limestone revetment and has hired its own marine engineers four times over the 23 years. These studies repeatedly show that the limestone revetment has not failed, and that repair of the limestone revetment is feasible and cheaper than the City’s plan for demolition and replacement with concrete. This City-sponsored, back-room, top-down decree for concrete is a holdover from the days of Meig’s Field and the parking-meter deal. CDOT and the Corps’ condemning the Point as “failed”, however, allows the bureaucrats to evade the protections guaranteed by the recent Chicago Landmark Designation and the National Register Listing, and bulldoze the 23-year community struggle to save and preserve the limestone revetment. This struggle is the effort to preserve the South Side community that has formed around this place for many decades. Demolishing the Point demolishes our community.
We cannot endorse a grossly over-priced, over-engineered, overhaul of Promontory Point that ignores community input, the legitimate community preservation plan, and the nearly unanimous community support for preservation at the Point.
Destination Point: the Legitimate Community Plan
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The marine engineering drawing illustrates how repair and rehabilitation could work at Promontory Point. The step-stone, limestone revetment is repaired-in-place or in-kind blocks. Rehabilitation allows for minimal concrete for ramps and pathways down to the revetment and into the water for all
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This marine engineering drawing is just one of many ways that rehabilitation at the Point might work: maximize historic limestone and minimize concrete for useful, graceful ramps down to and into the water for ADA compliance
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Promontory Point: now a Chicago Landmark!
The Chicago City Council voted Promontory Point a Chicago Landmark on Wednesday, April 19, 2023! Former Alderman Leslie Hairston and Mayor Lori Lightfoot spoke up in favor of this momentous event. Much rejoicing in the land! Read the letters of support from Point lovers here. Read the gorgeous Chicago Landmark Designation Report here.
Promontory Point Conservancy thanks the twenty-four steadfast volunteers that inventoried all 700+ trees at Promontory Point. Now we have a record of their species, conditions and locations before future construction.
Promontory Point Conservancy thanks the twenty-four steadfast volunteers that inventoried all 700+ trees at Promontory Point. Now we have a record of their species, conditions and locations before future construction.
2023 clean-up schedule: Sundays, 10:30am - noon
Last clean-up of the year: November 19, 2023. We meet at the National Register plaque, east side of the tunnel/underpass. We provide gloves, trash bags, tools and FREE Save the Point Again! t-shirts.
Last clean-up of the year: November 19, 2023. We meet at the National Register plaque, east side of the tunnel/underpass. We provide gloves, trash bags, tools and FREE Save the Point Again! t-shirts.
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Essentially, a preservation approach means no demolition of the limestone revetment and no replacement with concrete: that's the legimate community plan. But what do we mean when we say we support repair, restore and rehabilitate per the Secretary of the Interior Standards for Historic Treatments? Read more.
Read what we know about the City's (CDOT's) $5m design planning study of the Point underway July 2023 and the Chicago Corps's newly funded construction of a concrete revetment in spring 2026 What is the U.S. Army Corps and City's "locally preferred plan"? How does it differ from the "legitimate community preservation plan"? What does the Chicago Park District mean when it says "repurposing as much limestone as possible" at the Point? Find out how the legitimate community preservation plan is cheaper than the City's plan by many millions of dollars |
Bronwyn Nichols Lodato remarks on "Landscapes of Exclusion" and the national trend diminishing equitable access to public parks through commercialization, privitazation and environmental injustice
Bill Swislow maps the 500 carvings on the limestone revetment at Promontory Point that you can walk yourself. The 6-page map is downloadable and printable as well as interactive. Read Bill's statement about these carvings and their unique history Promontory Point Conservancy is very grateful to receive the 2022 VIP (Volunteers-in-the-parks) Advocacy award from Friends of the Parks on December 10, 2022 Photo credits: Two top photos above: David Schalliol. Photo below: Tim Murphy |
Questions about an event or donations for a bench?
The Conservancy does NOT issue park permits for BBQs, weddings, or other events, and it does NOT take donations for memorial benches or trees at the Point. The Chicago Park District does: Here is the information on the Park District's website about grilling in parks: Here is information on the Park District's website about whether your event will require a permit: For inquiries about a bench at the Point, contact the Chicago Park District: For permit inquiries and general questions about events at the Point, contact the Park Supervisor Monique Scott at +1.312.742.5369
For buoys, park damage, safety concerns, maintenance issues or other problems in the park, contact the Chicago Park District directly
For buoys, park damage, safety concerns, maintenance issues or other problems in the park, contact the Chicago Park District directly