Crawford power plant demolition to resume next week in Little Village

Despite community protests, the demolition of the retired Crawford Station coal power plant in Little Village will resume next Friday, according to the developer of the site.

The protests followed the implosion demolition of an almost 400-foot smokestack that blanketed the entire community in a thick cloud of dust last month. After that demolition was roundly criticized and neighbors complained that they weren’t given adequate notice ahead of time, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the remaining demolition of the structure would be delayed.

Hilco Redevelopment Partners has been cited by the city and faces $68,000 in fines for violating local construction dust and air pollution laws for the bungled April 11 demolition.

The city, however, has since determined that the demolition of the remaining portions of the building needed to be completed because the structure is unstable and potentially dangerous.

Hilco said in a statement Friday that it will take down the turbine building, the smaller of two remaining structures at the plant, at 6:30 a.m. June 5. It said a dust-mitigation plan will be followed. Chicago-based Heneghan Wrecking & Excavation Co. will perform the work to bring down the structure, Hilco said in a statement.

“The mechanical dismantling will occur through a manual process and will not be completed by means of implosion,” the statement said, adding that the work will be “conducted in accordance with the dust mitigation plans that have been approved by the City of Chicago Department of Buildings and the City of Chicago Department of Public Health.”

Hilco will alert residents of the plan with fliers and telephone calls over the next week, the developer said.

In a statement, city officials said “inspectors have been onsite since April 13 and will remain onsite with a third-party environmental consultant to closely monitor the demolition activity and ensure the promised safeguards are in place and followed.”

At a virtual town hall meeting held last week, residents ripped the city and said the demolition process lacks transparency.

“I’m appalled that you keep lying to us and you think this town hall is enough,” Little Village resident Esmeralda Hernandez said during the meeting.

Brett Chase’s reporting on the environment and public health is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.