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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, In August 1993, a Memorandum of Agreement
3(Agreement) was executed to recognize that the Illinois
4Shoreline Erosion Interim 3 Project (Project) would affect
5portions of the Chicago shoreline that are historic properties
6listed or eligible for listing on the U.S. National Register
7of Historic Places (NRHP); and
 
8    WHEREAS, The Agreement prioritizes the preservation of the
9historic properties and elements on the shoreline, with repair
10and rehabilitation to be performed consistent with the
11Secretary of the Interior Standards for the Treatment of
12Historic Properties and Guidelines for the Treatment of
13Cultural Landscapes (SOI standards), and aims for a design
14plan that would lead to a finding of No Adverse Effects (NAE)
15by the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO); and
 
16    WHEREAS, The Chicago District of the U.S. Army Corps of
17Engineers (USACE) has consulted with the Advisory Council on
18Historic Preservation (ACHP) and SHPO pursuant to 36 CFR Part
19800 and Section 106 of the 1965 National Historic Preservation
20Act to define the Agreement and prioritize the protection of
21the historic properties at Promontory Point so that the
22designs and planning for the shoreline management developed
23for Promontory Point would allow for a finding of No Adverse

 

 

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1Effect (NAE); and
 
2    WHEREAS, The Agreement requires amending because the
3construction and rehabilitation of the Promontory Point reach
4of the original Project was not completed; and
 
5    WHEREAS, A major component of the uncompleted Project is
6Promontory Point, a 40-acre peninsula at the south end of
7Burnham Park, Chicago, comprising the Area of Potential
8Effects (APE), herein referred to as the "Undertaking"; and
 
9    WHEREAS, The scope of the Undertaking includes the
10pre-design, review, design planning, construction, and
11maintenance of the step-stone limestone revetment and
12promenade at Promontory Point for erosion control and storm
13damage management, and it specifically includes the repair and
14rehabilitation of the step-stone limestone revetment and
15promenade at Promontory Point, approximately 3,200 linear feet
16of shoreline between East 54th and 56th Streets; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The step-stone limestone revetment and promenade
18at Promontory Point is now subject to the continuation and
19funding of the Project consistent with the Agreement and the
20SOI standards; and
 
21    WHEREAS, Section 8336 of the Water Resources Development

 

 

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1Act (WRDA) of 2022 in the National Defense Authorization Act
2for Fiscal Year 2023 appropriates funding to finish the
3uncompleted sections of the shoreline Project, including
4Promontory Point; the 2022 Bi-Partisan Infrastructure Law,
5Public Law 117-58, funds an internal, third-party review of
6Promontory Point; also, a City of Chicago (City) 2023 capital
7bond funds a $5m design and planning contract for Promontory
8Point; and
 
9    WHEREAS, The Agreement also necessitates amendment because
10of the 24-year history of commitment and involvement by the
11local and City-wide community to seek a genuine preservation
12outcome at Promontory Point; and
 
13    WHEREAS, On June 21, 2002, SHPO issued a letter providing
14its refusal to issue a finding of NAE in regards to proposed
15activities at Promontory Point for the Lake Michigan Shoreline
16Protection, as recorded under IPHA log #109170043WCK; and
 
17    WHEREAS, The Agreement and SHPO's June 21, 2002 letter
18specify repair and rehabilitation to match the existing
19step-stone limestone revetment and promenade and to minimize
20impacts to the historic resources at Promontory Point under
21the SOI standards; and
 
22    WHEREAS, Discussions led by then-Senator Obama with the

 

 

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1USACE, the City of Chicago, the Chicago Park District (CPD),
2SHPO, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP),
3and the consulting parties led to the 2006 Obama Scope of Work,
4which provided an agreed-upon path forward for a preservation
5approach and community engagement process to design planning
6and construction at Promontory Point; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Section 5072 of the WRDA of 2007 directed but
8never funded a third-party, unbiased, independent preservation
9feasibility and cost analysis study of Promontory Point to be
10supervised by the Buffalo and Seattle offices of the USACE but
11was not deemed an element of the Project; and
 
12    WHEREAS, Other third-party, independent marine engineering
13studies in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2024 all demonstrated that
14Promontory Point remains functioning and operational for storm
15damage and shoreline protection, and that a preservation
16approach to repairing the step-stone limestone revetment and
17promenade can meet erosion control and storm damage protection
18requirements; and
 
19    WHEREAS, Promontory Point was listed in the National
20Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on January 19, 2018, and it
21was designated a City of Chicago Landmark on April 19, 2023;
22and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, The significant historic features of Promontory
2Point are identified as the pavilion field house, including
3its pathways, the meadow, and original plantings, four council
4rings, the step-stone limestone revetment, the promenade, the
555th Street underpass and its porticos, and the David Wallach
6Fountain; and
 
7    WHEREAS, There are multiple conditions for the several
8elements of the structure of the revetment at Promontory
9Point, including the immediate parkland, the step-stone
10revetment, the promenade, the promenade sub-grade, and the
11timber cribbing; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The SOI standards provide for numerous treatments
13and solutions to address the multiple conditions of the
14limestone revetment and its structural elements at various
15locations and sections of Promontory Point; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Preserving the step-stone limestone revetment and
17promenade preserves the multi-generational, racial, and
18economic class community that has gathered at Promontory Point
19for almost 100 years; therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL
21ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we support the
22legitimate Community Preservation Plan for Promontory Point,

 

 

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1Burnham Park, Chicago; and be it further
 
2    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
3delivered to Promontory Point Conservancy.