Plan Commission Gives Nod to Children’s Museum Move

By Shawn Allee
Plan Commission Gives Nod to Children’s Museum Move
During the Plan Commission hearing, aldermanic seats sit empty, but the public overwhelmed the rest of the chambers and balcony. (WBEZ)
Plan Commission Gives Nod to Children’s Museum Move
During the Plan Commission hearing, aldermanic seats sit empty, but the public overwhelmed the rest of the chambers and balcony. (WBEZ)

Plan Commission Gives Nod to Children’s Museum Move

By Shawn Allee
WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

The Chicago Children’s Museum is closer to moving into its proposed Grant Park location. The museum’s application was approved last evening after a marathon meeting.

Chicago Plan Commissioners heard more than five hours of public comments before their own debate. That lasted fifteen minutes, and it was cut short by Commissioner Ed Burke. Burke himself showed up toward the end of public testimony. Commissioner Leon Finney questioned how the museum could keep a small footprint in the specially-protected Grant Park, but he felt the plan was legal.

FINNEY: We either decide to tear the policies up, discard them and adopt a new set of policies through which to guide us, or we have to live with perhaps these imperfect policies, but that’s what we have.

Finney joined the majority that recommended the Children’s museum application 13-2. The Children’s Museum proposal now gets taken up Tuesday by Chicago’s city ouncil committee on zoning.