Jan. 19--A group of residents is urging the city to rezone a 115-acre manufacturing site just west of Lincoln Park to allow residential development along with high-tech and light manufacturing.
The site was designated a manufacturing district in 1988 to protect it from encroaching residential development. The site formerly housed A. Finkl Sons, a maker of specialty steels and alloys, and Gutmann Tannery. It also is home to companies still in operation, including A. Lakin Sons, a tire recycler. The steel-maker moved to the Far South Side last year.
The Ranch Triangle Community Conservation Association said in a report that the area could generate about $13 million annually in property taxes if the land were developed residentially. The group didn't have an estimate of the taxes a manufacturing-only area would generate or how much it would cost to prepare the site for residential development.
The association proposed transferring the site's special zoning to another neighborhood that needs manufacturing jobs. One suggestion was an area between South Halsted Street and South Ashland Avenue in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood.
Another group, North Branch Works, has been working on a redevelopment plan for a 40-acre section of the site. The plan, which would keep the 115 acres as a planned manufacturing district, is scheduled to be released in September.
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