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Plan Commission endorses Wrigley Field projectJul 19, 2013 (Chicago Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts won a key victory Thursday in his campaign for city approval of a $500 million plan to renovate Wrigley Field and transform the surrounding area in the process. The Chicago Plan Commission unanimously endorsed the proposal, sending it to the City Council, which is expected to give the final thumbs-up, especially after local Ald. Tom Tunney, 44th, told commissioners he backs the plan. Although Tunney said he would continue to discuss with the Cubs and Mayor Rahm Emanuel his opposition to a planned pedestrian bridge over Clark Street, he said other concerns had been addressed. "Through months of negotiations and discussions, we now have arrived at the point where I have no objections to this project," Tunney declared at the end of a three-hour hearing. Ricketts' plan calls for spending $300 million to renovate the 99-year-old stadium, an effort to be funded by more than doubling the amount of ballpark signage, to about 51,000 square feet, including a large video board in left field and a script sign in right. The plan also calls for building a seven-story, 175-room hotel on Clark Street and a six-story office-retail building and plaza adjacent to Wrigley on Clark. The hotel and office building would be linked by a pedestrian bridge over Clark, and about 35,000 square feet of advertising would go up at the hotel, office building, plaza and other new structures. With a good portion of the advertising to be lit up, critics have described the expected result as the "Times Square effect." But the Cubs maintain that advertising is crucial to the plan to pay for the project without a city subsidy. "The expected revenue from signage will fund much of this plan and will keep Wrigley Field competitive for modern-day baseball," Cubs Vice President Mike Lufrano told commissioners. The Plan Commission's recommendation came after the ballclub agreed the night before to address some of Tunney's concerns. But the alderman did not get everything he sought and said discussions had not concluded, despite his withdrawal of objections. The City Council could vote on the plan as early as next week. Council signoff would allow the Cubs to start construction right after the season ends -- provided the project is not stalled by any legal challenges from the rooftop clubs whose lucrative views into the ballpark could be partly blocked. In negotiations before the commission meeting, Ricketts agreed to defer his proposal for an outdoor patio deck at the hotel that would face residential Patterson Avenue, just west of Clark. He also agreed to consider moving the hotel entrance off Patterson to Clark or Addison Street if a safe traffic pattern can be worked out. Tunney's demand that the walkway over Clark be removed from the plan -- a sentiment shared by a couple of plan commissioners -- was not heeded. Tunney said he will continue to discuss that issue with the mayor and Cubs officials. Commissioner Doris Holleb was among the walkway opponents. "The sky bridge ... is unnecessary, it's useless and it's bad, and we have in the Plan Commission in the past over the years disapproved sky bridges over public property, with rare exceptions," such as hospitals, Holleb said. "There is no need for the project to have this detail." Cubs spokesman Julian Green defended the bridge as "very important to making sure that we can get traffic up and off the street and into the ballpark." The team is open to discussing the possibility of covering the bridge amid concerns about beer getting tossed onto cars below, Green said. But he downplayed the likelihood that Cubs fans would endanger drivers and pedestrians in that way. "Cubs fans are no different than any other fans in the city of Chicago," Green said. "They're mothers, they're fathers, they're brothers, they're sisters, and they're responsible." Tunney's call for significantly shrinking the video board in left field was ignored last week by the city Landmarks Commission when it approved a 5,700-square-foot structure. In negotiations leading up the landmarks panel meeting, Tunney also sought a 10-year moratorium on additional signs above the bleachers in the outfield. The Cubs refused to agree to that, although they would have to return to the Landmarks Commission to make any significant additions or changes. On Thursday, Tunney said he had "assurances from the mayor and the Cubs that there will be no additional outfield signs for many years to come." Tunney also has called for the Cubs to pay the city for public land it would take to move back the rear walls of the ballpark, which the team says will lessen the blockage of rooftop views. After putting up resistance, the Cubs have agreed to make a payment for the land, although the amount has yet to be set, city officials said. About 20 neighborhood residents spoke against the plan at the commission meeting. "I urge you to stop today the expansion of the Wrigley Field density into the surrounding residential neighborhoods of North Lakeview," said Victoria Granacki, who has lived in the area for 36 years. "We cannot tolerate the land grab that the Cubs ownership is proposing for our local streets and the 365-day drunkfest that will go with it. My major objection is that the hotel and office building are too big." Resident Kay Manger-Hague noted that the hotel would be built where there's now a McDonald's restaurant. "Just because it's on a McDonald's lot doesn't mean it has to be supersized," she said. But more than 20 people spoke in favor of the plan, including residents and business leaders who noted the economic benefits the team provides locally and to the city as a whole. Dennis Kelly, who has lived four blocks from Wrigley for the past decade, said the neighborhood has improved since the Cubs installed lights in 1988. "The vast majority of my neighbors are in favor of the proposal," he added. "I don't think that comes out." Earlier this year, the Cubs won approval to play as many as 46 night games a year, up from the current limit of 30, a change Ricketts also said was needed to help finance the stadium deal. 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