Friends Of The Parks Sue To Keep Lucas Museum Off Lakefront
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A parks advocacy group has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, seeking to block plans to keep filmmaker George Lucas' proposed museum off the lakefront.
The city has chosen a parcel of land south of Soldier Field as the home for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, but the Friends of the Parks claimed in its lawsuit that the city does not have the authority to transfer that land to a private entity.
The lawsuit names the city and the Chicago Park District as defendants.
The city has offered to lease the site to the museum for $1 a year, and Lucas has offered to pay for the entire cost of building and operating the museum.
However, the lawsuit alleges, because landfill from Lake Michigan was used to build the lakefront park where the city wants to the museum to be built, it is public property that cannot be turned over to a private operator.
The lawsuit cites the "public trust doctrine," which requires the land to be set aside as a natural resource, and open to the public for recreation, and accessible for fishing, commerce, and other activity on the lake.
"While this has been presented by the Chicago Park District and the city of Chicago as a done deal, the city has no authority to control, revise, or amend the public trust doctrine," Friends of the Parks president Cassandra Francis said.
Francis said only the state could authorize turning over the land to the museum, and attorney Tom Geoghegan said approval from the General Assembly and the governor wouldn't end the lawsuit, either.
"The state of Illinois is a trustee of the public trust doctrine, and as a trustee, it has to act to serve the trust purposes," he said.
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"Ultimately, Chicago does not want to look back and regret an injudicious decision to sacrifice our lakefront, Chicago's greatest natural asset. So let's use The Force to do good for Chicago," she said.
The lawsuit makes no mention of the city's 1973 Lakefront Protection Ordinance, which prohibits any further private development along the lakefront. Friends of the Parks unsuccessfully tried to block the 2003 renovation of Soldier Field, citing the Lakefront Protection Ordinance.
The group said they do not oppose building the Lucas Museum in Chicago, they just want it in a different location, such as the vacant site of the old Michael Reese Hospital, which would still be near the lake, but not on park property.
"Defendants will interfere with and impair right of … Illinois citizens to use and enjoy property held in trust by the State of Illinois as a natural resource and pristine physical environment and as a free and open space for access to and use and enjoyment of navigation, fishing, boating, and commerce on Lake Michigan," the lawsuit alleged. "Plaintiffs and other Illinois citizens will suffer an irreparable injury to their beneficial interest in the property."
The Friends of the Parks have asked a federal judge to prohibit the city and park district from transferring control of the proposed museum site to the Lucas Museum, or from approving construction of the museum building on lakefront park property.
A city spokesman said the Lucas Museum would be treated like every other museum on the Lakefront, and be in full compliance with all applicable laws.
The lakefront already is home to the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and Adler Planetarium – all of which are on the same Museum Campus within less than a mile of the proposed site for the Lucas Museum. The Museum of Science and Industry also is located along the lakefront at the north end of Jackson Park.
