Lawsuit blocking construction of Obama Presidential Center in Chicago park is thrown out

‘This is not the end of the road,’ the president of the Protect Our Parks groups said

A lawsuit trying to block the construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago has been thrown out by a federal judge.

The lawsuit was the second filed by the group Protect Our Parks and other concerned individuals against the city of Chicago, its park district, the Obama Foundation, and other defendants. They claimed that federal reviews of the Obama Foundation's construction plans failed to appropriately assess the impact the centre would have on the environment.

The Hill reports that the plaintiffs also accused federal regulators of refusing to consider other locations for the facility that they maintained would be "much less harmful to protected resources”.

The group and other concerned individuals have been fighting to protect Chicago's Jackson Park, which they believe will be damaged by the construction of former President Barack Obama's centre.

US District Judge Robert Blakey dismissed the lawsuit on Tuesday, ruling that the city did not abdicate its control or ownership of the site to the Obama Foundation.

He also argued that presidential centres "confer a public benefit because they 'serve valuable public purposes, including, but not limited to, furthering human knowledge and understanding, educating and inspiring the public and expanding recreational and cultural resources and opportunities.'

Mr Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama broke ground on the centre in November.

The Obama Foundation said on Wednesday that the ruling allows it to continue its work on the South Side of Chicago. It said the centre's opening would be sometime in 2025.

“We know many in the city and community are eager for us to continue our work to bring jobs and investment to the South Side and the ruling yesterday allows us to do just that,” the foundation told The Hill in a statement.

The Obama Foundation said it "appreciated the voices of the many leaders who weighed in on the issue" as the process moves forward.

Protect Our Parks founder and president Herb Caplan told WTTW News that the group planned to appeal the ruling.

“This is not the end of the road,” Mr Caplan said Tuesday morning. “Our many available paths of legal recourse are actually beginning not ending, and with a few unexpected surprises to come for the defendants.”

He went on to call the judge's ruling "dubious and controversial."

The centre was originally slated to open in 2021, but the lawsuits and a federal review forced it to be pushed back several years.