Preservation Engineering Studies:
​The Legitimate Community Preservation Plan 

2002-present
  • Promontory Point Condition Study, McLaren Engineering Group, April 4, 2024. This condition study demonstrates that the limestone revetment functions as satisfactory storm damage and shoreline protection right now, can be retained and repaired, and, if repaired and maintained, has another 86- or more years of service.
  • Fact Sheet, Promontory Point Conservancy and McLaren Engineering Group, April 4, 2024. This fact sheet ummarizes the key findings and conclusions of the Condition Study.
  • Appendix A: Site Plan and Segments 1-7, Condition Study, McLaren Engineering Group, April 4, 2024.
  • Appendix B: Deficiency Plans and Tables, Images, Condition Study, McLaren Engineering Group, April 4, 2024.
  • Appendix C: Inspection Photos, Condition Study, McLaren Engineering Group, April 4, 2024.
  • Appendix D: Previous Engineering Studies , Condition Study, McLaren Engineering Group, April 4, 2024. Also listed below: Galvin, Shabica and Kalven studies.
  • Q&A session about the Condition Study of Promontory Point with McLaren Engineering Group, June 5, 2025. (55 min.)
  • McLaren Engineering Group's letter, dated October 31, 2024, explains their credentials and expertise using both the engineering professional standards ASCE 130 MPO and the USACE's UFC-4-150-07 standard for evaluating the condition of waterfront facilities and structures. McLaren compares the two standards, their overlap and their difference, and explains why McLaren chose ASCE 130 MPO for its Condition Study of Promontory Point. McLaren is the preferred engineering contractor for USACE Marine Design Center in Philadelphia and has worked on every inch of Manhattan, NYC, with or for USACE, including FDR Drive and Riverside Park. McLaren also worked on the historic restoration of the sea wall at Ellis Island for the National Park Service.
  • July 31, 2023 Letter from McLaren Engineering Group, the Conservancy's marine engineering firm, unequivally stating that "the limestone revetment at Promontory Point exhibits no indications of imminent widespread failure. The structure currently functions as effective shoreline protection, and with maintenance and repairs to localized areas of deterioration, the limestone revetment can continue to serve Hyde Park and its surrounding communities."
  • 2002 Galvin Marine Engineering Preservation Study
  • 2003 Marine Engineering Study and Cost Analysis
  • 2004 Kalven Mediation Report
  • History of Uniquely Designed Groins Along the Chicago Lakeshore. Michael J. Chrzastowski. Journal of Coastal Research, Special issue no. 33: Functioning and Design of Coastal Groins: the Interaction of Groins and Beaches -- Process and Planning. Winter 2004, pp. 19-38. Promontory Point essentially functions like a groin, creating a shallow sand beach on the north side, especially in the cove, and creating deeper water for deep water swimming on the south side.

Historic Preservation Agreements and Decisions

1993-2024
  • USACE last minute changes to draft comments and changes below, submitted 5 hours before the negotiating meeting on October 16, 2024. These last minute changes were drastic and upended what could have been a productive negotiating session with the ACHP, IL SHPO, the Consulting Parties, Chicago USACE, CDOT and the Chicago Park District.
  • Draft combining the ACHP's comments and changes AND the Consulting Parties' comments and changes to USACE's 08-01-2024 draft agreement into a single document for convenience. The ACHP's solo comments letter and changes to the draft agreement are below. The Consulting Parties' changes and comments to the  draft agreement are below.
  • The ACHP's comments and changes to the Chicago Corps' draft agreement (08012024), October 1, 2024.
  • The ACHP's comments letter to the Corps' most recent draft agreement, October 2, 2024. The ACHP calls for repair of Promontory Point's limestone revetment and reconstruction of the Morgan Shoal limestone revetment. (Repair and reconstruction are each very specific terminology for the Secretary of the Interior's standards for preservation.) The letter supports the Consulting Parties' changes, validates the McLaren condition study, and combines Morgan Shoal and Promontory Point into the same programmatic agreement.
  • Consulting Parties' changes and comments to USACE draft amended Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) (08012024), dated September 12, 2024. Promontory Point Conservancy, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Landmarks Illinois, Preservation Chicago, Openlands, the Hyde Park Historical Society and Friends of the Parks propose changes and provide comment for the Chicago Corps's most recent draft amened MOA for the 2024 design and 2026 construction work planned at Promontory Point. Consuting Parties' changes and comments on the draft amended MOA -- like the 1993 MOA and the 2006 Obama Scope of Work - prioritize a preservation approach, provide for community input into all phases of the design and construction at the Point, and set up a dispute resolution process. A  Dictionary of terms compiled by the Consulting Parties provides a common preservation language.
  • The Chicago Corps's most recent draft MOA, August 1, 2024. 
  • 1993 Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)
  • 2002 IL State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) letter refusing a letter of no adverse effects
  • 2006 Obama Scope of Work (Obama SOW)
  • Promontory Point Conservancy’s and other consulting parties' letter making a legal case to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, Washington, DC, that the 1993 MOA is still in effect and prioritizes preservation at Promontory Point, September 8, 2022
  • The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation letter to  the Chicago Army Corps agreeing that the 1993 MOA is still in effect for Promontory Point and Morgan Shoal, and expressing its concerns about the Chicago Corps's preservation process at Promontory Point, December 13, 2022
  • The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation's letter to the Chicago Corps expressing concern about how the federally funded project for Promontory Point is being managed, March 7, 2024. This letter questions CDOT clandestinely issuing its RFP for the $5m design study of the Point and selecting a contractor when its federal partner has no funding  and has not yet developed a scope of work for this undertaking at the Point
  • In this meeting intended as a learning session and open discussion for all parties (68 min.), ACHP, IL SHPO and preservationists discuss how preservation at Promontory Point might work with the Chicago Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Chicago Corps blows a lot of smoke in this meeting so as not to modify its plan for replacement of the historic limestone revetment. The preservation agencies and the preservation community, however, finds that the Secretary of the Interior's Guildelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes apply to any construction at the Point as well as the Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. June 2023.​

Landmark Designation Reports, and
​Caldwell 1939 and 1989 plantings plans

USACE and CDOT Demolition & Replacement Plans

These plans were created by the Chicago Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), and are referred to by the Corps as the “locally preferred plan”.  They do not reflect the legitimate community plan for preservation or the community's wishes. (See Preservation Engineering Studies at the top of this page for the legitimate community plan for preservation.)
  • Task Order - Master Agreement issued by the Chicago Dept. of Transportation as the RFP for the $5m design planning study of Promontory Point, December 2023​
  • Press release, "USACE Chicago District, the City of Chicago, and the Chicago Park District announce the Chicago Shoreline Project kicks off new phases", issued by the Chicago District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, January 30, 2023. Here the Chicago Corps explicitly states that "the original shorelines structures . . . no longer function" and it will "replace existing infrastructure and construct new structures". Although landmark protections dictate a preservation approach of repair and rehabilitation of the limestone revetment, the Chicago Corps already plans to demolish and replace the limestone with a new concrete structure -- determinations made prior to the Section 106 Review planned for 2024
  • Promontory Point Stakeholder Meeting 31 January 2023  This document by the Chicago Army Corps presents the process and timeline for the undertaking at Promontory Point. Although the Corps is behind its deadlines, we presume this is the legally required process that the Corps must follow for its congressionally funded authorizations for this project. It includes the Third Party Review and the design planning phases including the Section 106 Review. This document was presented to the ACHP, IL SHPO, legislative representatives' staff and the consulting parties by the Chicago Corps and its partners, CDOT and the Chicago Park District. The consulting parties for this project to date are Promontory Point Conservancy, the National Trust for Historic Places, Landmarks Illinois, Preservation Chicago, Openlands and Friends of the Parks.
  • Lakefront-Shoreline Project, 2022-2026 from The City of Chicago Procurement Services. This document describes the parnership between the City of Chicago (CDOT), the Chicago Park District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reconstruct Promontory Point and lays out replacement in late 2025 and the program funding from bonds, federal and other (City) sources.
  • CDOT's preferred solution for Promontory Point, (18 seconds), excerpted from the PBS presentation for the Morgan Shoal Project, May 18, 2022. Per the Chicago Corps' press release above,  Promontory Point and Morgan Shoal are combined into a single undertaking, the Morgan Shoal Project, so that the storm damage erosion at Morgan Shoal can be ascribed to Promontory Point too. In this short video, the slide photo to the left, you will recognize as the north side of Promontory Point. And listen as a CDOT engineer clearly states that the "preferred solution" is replacement with a concrete structure. CDOT's official site for the Shoreline Protection Project, including  Promontory Point in Reach 4 and the last paragraph of the project page explains the City's "preferred design of the revetment is vertical steel sheet piles to replace the damaged wood piles, and concrete steps and promenade to replace the existing stones."
  • CDOT's BRIC FEMA Pre-application, September 2020
    • Signed application which states “[a]ssessments performed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, as well as the City of Chicago and Chicago Park Distric have indicated that much of the protective shoreline structures are in a state of disrepair . . . "
    • Exhibits, last page, shows the planned design for Promontory Point of demolition and replacement with concrete with decorative and ornamental limestone blocks. The exhibit photos also falsely ascribe storm damage at Morgan Shoal to Promontory Point so as to justify demolition and replacement at the Point too.
  • SmithGroup Districtwide Lakefront Shoreline Assessment and Strategic Action Plan (redacted) This response to the Chicago Park District's RFP indicates that SmithGroup completed a condition study and a strategic design plan for Promontory Point in spring 2022. The Park District has confirmed its completion, promised to provide it to the Conservancy, and has failed to date to deliver.
  • 2014 Illinois Shoreline Erosion Study Unknown to the Alderman and the community until recently, the Chicago Corps prepared this study of Promontory Point to obtain federal funding for construction. Its plans for Promontory Point are detailed on pages 15, 18, 21, 32, 36, 317, 318, 326-7, 340, 346, 363, 365, 372, 389, 391, 393-419, 452-3 (drawings), 478 and 493 of this report. This plan shows the demolition of the historic limestone revetment and its replacement with concrete to match the 57th Street Beach design, and provides cost breakout for each component, including tree removal and demolition. Some limestone blocks are repurposed as purely decorative and ornamental in the parkland. This plan will take 61 months to complete and completely closes the park for 5 years. Since the Morgan Shoal plan in this 2014 plan is what is currently being rolled out right now by the City and SmithGroup, we assume that this 2014 plan approximates what will be presented soon for Promontory Point. This report also includes the Corps's original 1994 rubble mound solution to Promontory Point as an attachment
  • 1999 Burnham Park Framework Plan, Chicago Park District.  Promontory Point is the southern most end of Burnham Park
  • 2001 Chicago Shoreline Protection Project, Reach 4 to 5A, 54th Street to 57th Street, July 2001. This plan when presented to the community in late January 2000 ignited Save the Point! and the community struggle to preserve the historic limestone revetment from demolition and replacement with concrete. A later version of this plan with more swim ladders was known as the 2002 "compromise plan"
  • Chicago Shoreline Storm Damage Reduction, Reach 4 to 5A, 54th Street to 57th Street, July 2001. Chicago Dept. of Purchases, Contracts and Supplies. This document along with the plans above show the engineering drawings for the work planned for the Point in 2001-2007

Elected Representative and Organizations Supporting Preservation

Address

5052 South Woodlawn Avenue
Apt 1B 
​Chicago, Illinois 60615-2825

​Email

[email protected]

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