ROSELAND — The city is developing a plan to boost 95th Street with buildings and amenities that can take advantage of major transit projects along the corridor.
The 95th Street Corridor Plan kicked off Wednesday, aiming to bring more development to the corridor between Halsted Street and Cottage Grove Avenue.
The corridor is home to the 95th/Dan Ryan terminal, which reopened in 2019 as the largest Chicago transit construction project to date. It will also provide future access to the Red Line Extension and upgraded 95th Street-Chicago State University Metra Electric station, as well as bus improvements along 95th and Halsted streets.
The 2-mile stretch of 95th Street mainly features low-density shops and homes, as well as Chicago State University’s campus. Most nearby blocks are single-family, owner-occupied homes, officials said.
The corridor plan is intended to improve transit infrastructure and connections, plan future land use and zoning, promote job training and business development, boost community property ownership and create design guidelines for future developments, among other points, officials said.
A final plan will be presented to the city’s Plan Commission, with an eye on city approval by the end of next year, officials said.
“With this corridor serving as a hub between these transit improvements, we see an important opportunity to envision potential growth that can address community needs,” Quinn Kasal, a strategic planner for the CTA, said at Wednesday’s kickoff meeting for the plan.
A “community table” of local leaders will be a “sounding board” for ideas as the corridor plan is developed, said Kirk Harris, an urban planning consultant for the nonprofit Endeleo Institute.
A handful of people from the community table will be elevated to an advisory group that will work “most closely” with city officials on the plan, Harris said.
Community table members must live in Roseland, Washington Heights or Pullman; have strong relationships within those communities; and demonstrate a history of or interest in community leadership.
“We need you to participate, and we need you to hold the process accountable to the community interests and the community priorities that emerge,” Harris said.
Local high schoolers and college students will form a separate panel to help develop the plan, and two youth from that panel will sit at the main community table.
To register for updates on the 95th Street Corridor Plan, click here.
The $1 million corridor plan is funded by an $800,000 federal transit grant and $200,000 in city funds. The city’s planning department and the CTA are working with infrastructure consulting firm AECOM on the project.
The corridor plan is part of the city’s push for equitable transit-oriented developments on the South and West sides. It builds on prior community plans over the last two decades, including the 2021 Far South Chicago quality-of-life plan and the 2022 Roseland Community Medical District master plan, among others.
The effort coincides with Chicago State University’s $250 million plan to overhaul 4 acres of vacant land on and near its Roseland campus into student- and family-focused developments. University officials have not yet announced any funding for their proposals.
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