River Ecology and Governance Task Force Visits South Branch Riverfront Projects

Members of the City of Chicago’s River Ecology and Governance Task Force and Friends of the Chicago River gathered in July for a field visit to two river edge developments along the South Branch of the Chicago River, including Bubbly Creek.

The task force visited the Prologis development at Halsted Street and the South Branch, now leased to Amazon, and the Cougle Foods development along Bubbly Creek. Both projects are located within the Pilsen Planned Manufacturing District and were among the first developments to implement the City’s updated 2019 version of the Chicago River Design Guidelines. The Cougle Foods project was the first development to address the updated guidelines, followed by Prologis.

The site visit provided an opportunity to look at how river edge designs and habitat strategies are performing roughly five years after their establishment. Participants discussed what is thriving, what has struggled, and what maintenance challenges have emerged over time. They also considered which engineering, landscape design, and habitat techniques are working well and where those approaches might be applied to future riverfront projects.

“Restoring living infrastructure along the river is essential to the health of the river system and surrounding communities, but these spaces require thoughtful, ongoing stewardship,” said Adam Flickinger, planning director at Friends of the Chicago River. “Seeing how riverfront restoration projects have grown after several years offered valuable insight into how initial design decisions perform over time and what can be learned for the next iteration of riverfront development.”

The tour brought together 25 people from organizations including the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Coastal Management Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Chicago Department of Planning and Development, Chicago Department of Transportation, Chicago Park District, McKinley Park Development Council, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Urban Rivers, and Openlands.

The River Ecology and Governance Task Force is hosted by the Chicago Department of Planning and Development, with facilitation support from Friends of the Chicago River.