Lawrence Avenue Transit-Oriented Development Study MAY 2018 CHICAGO TRANSIT AUTHORITY Preparation of this document was financed in part through a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, under the Federal Transit Act, and/or the Illinois Department of Transportation, Office of Intermodal Project Implementation. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policy of the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration or the Illinois Department of Transportation, Office of Intermodal Project Implementation. This report does not constitute a standard, specification or regulation. i CONTENTS 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. The Study Area ................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 History and Context ............................................................................................................................................................................. 4 The Area Today ................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 3. Developing a Community Vision ....................................................................................................................................................... 13 4. TOD Principles and Guidelines ......................................................................................................................................................... 16 Transit-Supportive Land Uses ........................................................................................................................................................... 18 Transit Stations and Connectivity ...................................................................................................................................................... 20 Neighborhood Character ................................................................................................................................................................... 22 Streetscape Experience ..................................................................................................................................................................... 24 ii 1. INTRODUCTION Transit is a vital component of life throughout Chicago, linking What is Transit-Oriented Development? jobs, housing, recreation, and services. Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is a planning concept that concentrates Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) concentrates development around transit resources to capitalize on public development around existing transit resources to transit investments, reduce auto dependency, and enable maximize the relationship between land uses. Typically, vibrant, healthy, and walkable neighborhoods. TOD includes a dense mix of commercial, residential, office, and human services along an existing transit Understanding the history and important linkages between corridor. Focusing growth around transit capitalizes on transit investments and communities, the Chicago Transit public investments in transit and promotes walkable and Authority conducted the Lawrence Avenue TOD Study to vibrant neighborhoods. explore local preferences for TOD and/or transit-supportive design near the Brown Line terminal area. This study is intended to contribute to the larger community-wide discussion on the area’s future and to complement other ongoing planning studies in Albany Park. Achieving development that meets local goals requires partnership among many stakeholders. CTA engaged with many partners in this effort, including the Chicago Department of Planning and Development (DPD), the 33rd Ward and other aldermanic offices, the North River Commission (NRC), the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), neighborhood organizations, and residents who participated in a series of advisory committee meetings in 2017. CTA met with these partners to gain a deeper understanding of the local vision for future development, which is documented in this report. These Kimball Station, looking south on Kimball Avenue. 1 efforts are only an initial step in implementing TOD and/or other Section 3 summarizes the stakeholder outreach conducted as transit-supportive improvements that realize the community’s part of this study and identifies the neighborhood vision that was vision and expectations. developed through the outreach process. This study is divided into the following major sections: Section 4 discusses TOD principles and guidelines for future development in the study area. The guidelines focus on four key Section 2 provides information on the history and context of the topics: transit-supportive land uses, transit stations and Brown Line and existing conditions in the study area. connectivity, neighborhood character, and the streetscape experience. This section also documents specific development ideas that participants provided during the study. 2 Lawrence Avenue TOD Study Area 2. THE STUDY AREA The study area is derived from the 2015 City of Chicago TOD Ordinance. It extends in a ¼ mile radius from the Kedzie and Kimball Brown Line stations. As Kedzie and Lawrence Avenues are designated Pedestrian Streets, the study area also extends ½ mile on these streets. Pedestrian Streets, or P-Streets, are segments of streets intended to preserve and enhance the character of streets and intersections that are widely recognized as Chicago's best examples of pedestrian-oriented shopping districts. The TOD Ordinance allows increased density for development as well as other provisions, such as reductions in parking requirements, to support TOD near existing transit stations. The study area represents the greatest opportunity in the Kimball terminal vicinity for future development that supports the integration of land use decisions with transit investments. What is a Pedestrian Street? The City of Chicago’s Pedestrian Street designation is assigned to streets with a pedestrian-friendly character. The designation contains requirements concerning street frontage and building facades. Pedestrian Streets are streets with: A high concentration of existing stores and restaurants A right-of-way of 80 feet or less A continuous or mostly continuous pattern of buildings that are built abutting or very close to the sidewalk Doors and entrances abutting the sidewalk Many storefront windows abutting the sidewalk Few vacant stores 3 History and Context Understanding the area’s legacy and its present-day conditions provides the context for its future. Albany Park, and specifically the Lawrence and Kedzie corridors, has had an interdependent relationship with transit over the past century. The TOD concept is not new and it has occurred organically over time as the Kimball and Kedzie ‘L’ stations were built and the surrounding area developed. This section provides a brief history of the study area’s transit resources and its present-day conditions. The Brown Line In 1900, the Northwestern Elevated Railroad Company completed its North Main Line that extended northward from the Loop to Wilson Avenue. In 1907, the company’s Ravenswood Branch was extended northwest from Belmont Avenue to Kimball Yard, 1917. Chicago Transit Authority Collection. Albany Park, providing transit service to downtown Chicago. By 1908, the line’s rail yard was operational. In this era, Albany inaugurated the Ravenswood Service, today’s Brown Line Park was sparsely populated, yet residential real estate service. developers and local promoters sought transit improvements to Changing lifestyles in the postwar era, aging infrastructure, the ensure success for their projects. popularity of the automobile, and an exodus from Chicago to the Rail transportation was a predominant mode from the late 1800s suburbs led to financial difficulties in the 1970s and 1980s that through the early years of the 20th century. Decreasing ridership left the CTA struggling to maintain its assets. due in part to the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s made Chicago’s private transit operations unsustainable. CTA was created to ensure the survival of transit in Chicago and in 1947 the new entity assumed operation of the city’s rail system from private companies. In 1949, CTA 4 The tide began to turn in the late 1980s as North Side neighborhoods expanded in both population and appeal. Brown Line ridership started to rebound, increasing 30% from 1987 to 1998, and the rest of the ‘L’ system followed suit in the late 1990s. In 1993, CTA rebranded its ‘L’ lines from historical names to colors in part to help simplify navigation and capitalize upon Chicago’s growing tourism market and the Brown Line was born. In 2001, Brown Line ridership reached 13.7 million annual station entries but remained stagnant through 2003. The Brown Line was at capacity and unable to accommodate passengers to and from downtown Chicago during peak travel times. To address this issue, CTA initiated the Brown Line Capacity Kimball Station, 1971. Chicago Transit Authority Collection. Expansion Project in the mid-2000s, the largest capital improvement project of its era ever undertaken