Town of Cicero Builds Ability Park Without Proving the Land Is Safe
Aerial view of the construction of Phil Fuentes Ability Park in Cicero, Illinois on July 15, 2025. Jesus J. Montero/ Cicero Independiente
By Leslie Hurtado
Editor’s note: Names that include an asterisk(*) are pseudonyms for sources due to fear of retaliation.
On a hot spring day at the Phil Fuentes Ability Park construction site, two workers without protective masks or goggles swing sledgehammers near loose gravel and an exposed plastic liner meant to seal contaminants.
The scene comes from a May 9 photo posted on the Town of Cicero’s Instagram as progress. Yet as the park nears completion by its ribbon cutting ceremony to open the park in the fall, missing cleanup paperwork has deepened community worries about the site’s safety. According to the Town of Cicero during the October 14 Town Board Meeting, the park will have its ribbon cutting ceremony on October 28.
A follow-up investigation by Cicero Independiente found the town still lacks a state clearance letter for Phil Fuentes Ability Park. This comes after our previous reporting uncovered contamination at the site, prompting an investigative series.
Our team reviewed thousands of pages of environmental records and plans to understand the park’s status. Documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests revealed significant delays and gaps during park construction.
Screenshot from the EPA website.
A critical safeguard from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA), known as the No Further Remediation letter (NFR), is still missing in the Illinois EPA database as of October. The NFR is the Illinois Illinois EPA’s official confirmation that cleanup meets health standards. It's one of several issues revealed by the investigation.
Cicero Independiente attempted to reach out to the IIllinois EPA’s Public Information Officer Kim Biggs and Illinois EPA Project Manager Troy Falley to receive updates regarding the official clearance of Phil Fuentes Ability Park. However, after multiple attempts, both parties did not respond to our email inquiries.
As Cicero plans to add more green space development to combat climate change, the legacy of past industries continues to affect new projects and residents' lives. We spoke with experts to understand these risks and explore solutions for safely preparing residents ahead of the park's completion.
This explainer aims to inform residents on Phil Fuentes Ability Park’s progress and potential hazards. We encourage sharing it with neighbors who may not be aware of ongoing safety concerns.
Cicero Builds Park Without Official Cleanup Approval
Jesus J. Montero/ Cicero Independiente
Records obtained through a FOIA request show Cicero enrolled the site in the Illinois EPA’s voluntary Site Remediation Program on Dec. 15, 2023. Under the Site Remediation Program, applicants can enroll a site for state oversight and begin remedial work. Including any construction tied to cleanup before receiving an NFR letter.
Community advocates, including Gregory Norris, executive director and founder of ACES 4 Youth, an organization focused on youth mentorship and environmental justice, said Cicero must guarantee the park site is safe before opening it to the public.
"So, to me, [the Town of Cicero] never really intended to get one [an NFR letter],” Norris said. “They’re getting one [town applied for the program] to just undermine the community. And that may be why, even though they enrolled in it voluntarily, there's no documentation of what has been done.”
Cicero’s cleanup plan reached the Illinois EPA on May 7, 2024. The Illinois EPA approved the plan on June 14, 2024, allowing work at the Ability Park site to start while remediation continues. An NFR letter is expected to be issued once the town finishes the cleanup and submits its completion report to the Illinois EPA.
Cicero Independiente requested the Town of Cicero to comment regarding the status of construction and status of remediation/clean up at Phil Fuentes Ability Park. However, the town did not respond to our request.
However, in our previous investigation, Specialty Consulting, a Chicago engineering firm that is the environmental consultant for the Phil Fuentes Ability Park site’s cleanup, stated that the current remediation plan follows state regulations.
In Illinois, builders can break ground before the state issues an NFR letter, but they take on a risk for themselves and nearby residents. Not only does the NFR letter provide safety, it also releases the owner from future state cleanup obligations Until that confirmation arrives, and based on reporting from Cicero Independiente, there is uncertainty on how the project will impact the community.
Residents have no official guarantee the site is safe, and the owner stays liable if hidden toxins surface later.
Lucy Contreras, State Program Director of GreenLatinos and Cicero resident, is concerned that the town moved forward with construction before receiving the NFR letter.
“Families deserve full transparency throughout this process,” Contreras said. “[Families] should be informed about what contaminants remain, how the cleanup plan works and what health precautions, if any, they should be taking. I think until the NFR letter is issued and all the environmental reports are made public in [easy-to-understand] language, families should really approach the site with caution.”
Some projects in Illinois have started construction despite ongoing contamination, raising concerns about public health and safety. For example the U.S. EPA stepped in with an emergency cleanup after finding heavy metals and chemicals in the soil in 2004 when construction of the J. Sterling Morton Freshman Center was taking place.
In Cook County, schools cannot start construction on contaminated land until the Illinois EPA approves a Remedial Action Plan, and the building cannot be occupied until cleanup is completed and certified — rules that do not apply to standalone parks or playgrounds.
“[Residents], particularly Black and brown people,get the blunt end of it, or the negative impacts of [environmental issues],” Norris said. And even when there are [environmental laws], then people are still required to ensure that it's enforced. In this situation, it's like policy needs to be changed and that there should be a requirement, not a volunteer basis.”
Norris said opening sites without state approval leaves communities vulnerable.
“I do not believe that [the park] should open up without the NFR letter,” Norris said. “To me, that letter right there is the last protection that the people of the community have, receiving something from the state. But then if they do not get a remediation letter, does the [Illinois EPA] still allow them to open?”
Regulatory Gaps Greenlights Construction
In Cook County, schools cannot start construction on contaminated land until the Illinois EPA approves a Remedial Action Plan, and the building cannot be occupied until cleanup is completed and certified — rules that do not apply to standalone parks or playgrounds such as Phil Fuentes Ability Park, which opens next to Unity Jr. High School. July 15,2025, Jesus J. Montero/ Cicero Independiente
Illinois regulators don’t require contaminated sites to be cleaned unless they are federal Superfund sites, according to an environmental policy expert Kat Smith*, who requested anonymity because they're not authorized to speak publicly. This regulatory gap allowed Cicero to begin building Ability Park, leaving the town responsible if contamination is discovered later. Banks and federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), requires cleanup documentation before approving funds.
“If [a project] is a Superfund site or a corrective action site, there are regular check-ins and more environmental enforcement,” said Smith*. “That doesn't happen with [remediation] voluntary programs. For example, if a company is caught polluting and there's a settlement, the company must regularly submit reports showing they’re on timeline to come back to compliance, but that entire enforcement mechanism is missing from brownfield sites.”
Illinois’s voluntary cleanup rules require no public input, meaning toxic sites can go unaddressed unless residents or outside groups raise concerns. In Pilsen, for example, neighbors pushed for lead testing, prompting the Illinois EPA to find an average of 2,419 mg/kg of lead in the alley surface soil near the H. Kramer brass smelting plant. Well above the EPA’s 800 mg/kg emergency cleanup threshold.
Despite such risks, It's common for developers to begin building on brownfield sites while cleanups are still in progress, rather than waiting for the official sign-off.
“Because it's a voluntary program, there's no enforcement mechanism that says, ‘No, you can't [do construction without an NFR],’” said Smith*. “I mean, conceivably, the [Town of Cicero] could start [building] if they didn't have a brownfield involved, didn't have HUD and just had an empty lot and decided to build on it on their own. They could do that.”
More Toxins and Oversight Issues
In addition to our original findings from the first investigation, we discovered new details.
In 2011, a 5,000-gallon heating-oil tank was excavated, but no public record confirms a full cleanup.
Groundwater tests also detected high lead levels. This is concerning because the park sits above an unconfined aquifer, a shallow groundwater source about 12.5 feet below ground. Without proper controls, pollution can spread more easily.
Because official clearance from the NFR letter is still pending, Illinois EPA has not confirmed that leftover fuel and metals, including arsenic in soil and lead in groundwater, are safely contained. Until that sign‑off is secured, disturbed soil or blowing dust could still expose children to these pollutants.
“I don't think that the [park construction] would be happening if the context was different,” Contreras said. “Would a park in a more affluent white neighborhood be built before contamination is fully addressed? Probably not. Communities deserve more than just promises. They deserve safety. They deserve a seat at the table and they deserve accountability in these processes.”
For decades, communities disproportionately burdened by pollution and contamination have relied on the EPA’s Environmental Justice (EJ) offices to have their voices heard. But as residents like Contreras demand safety and accountability, the federal infrastructure meant to ensure environmental justice is crumbling.
Casper Lou*, an EPA EJ staff person, speaking anonymously due to fears of professional repercussions, confirmed the agency would shut down all EJ offices and programs in late July, following President Trump’s Executive Orders that dismantled environmental‑justice initiatives.
The EPA has proposed revoking the Clean Air Act’s 2009 “endangerment finding,” the ruling that lets the agency curb greenhouse gases because they endanger public health. For communities near projects like Phil Fuentes Ability Park in Cicero, this rollback eliminates a vital legal tool needed to hold polluters accountable, leaving residents facing uncertain futures.
When Cicero Independiente questioned the anonymous EJ staffer on Phil Fuentes Ability Park’s status, they said they couldn’t answer our questions because they weren't aware of the project.
"I'm not even sure if the original person who was dealing with this project is still here, or if, unfortunately, somebody that has been here just a year or two might have taken over the project,” Lou* said. “I would probably say at least 12 people that I know of have turned in their retirement paperwork."
Lou* said Cicero never got an environmental‑justice label because pandemic census undercounts skewed the data, so the town missed out on extra oversight and resources. Illinois’s EPA is still active, but with the federal EJ office shut down, local projects now have less support if new contamination problems arise.
The obstacles over Phil Fuentes Ability Park could reshape how Cicero and similar communities approach construction projects. Future projects may face greater pressure to deliver safe public spaces.
“People in Cicero already have so many environmental justice concerns, and I think that a park shouldn't be one,” Lucy Contreras said. “A park should be a safe haven away from those things — where you can actually breathe clean air and where children can enjoy their time [at a park] without having to worry about how it's going to impact their health.”
Reporter’s Note
In pursuing this story, it was difficult to find environmental experts willing to speak openly. Several EJ professionals declined interview requests citing concerns over potential impacts on their reputations, highlighting transparency issues within both the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA).
For sources who agreed to speak, Cicero Independiente granted anonymity to provide readers with important information about the park’s current status and legal processes. Because Ability Park is a small, local project, recent federal department shutdowns and layoffs arising from administration policy have made it even harder for agencies to provide updated information on environmentally overburdened areas like Cicero.
The limited number of experts speaking on the record highlights a gap in accessible knowledge for communities like Cicero, where residents often must make decisions about public health and environmental safety with incomplete information.
Cicero Independiente hopes more experts will feel comfortable lending their voices openly in the future, helping residents stay informed and empowered in decisions that affect their health and environment.
Leslie Hurtado is a contributing reporter with Cicero Independiente. She graduated with a B.A. in Communications at Northeastern Illinois University. She worked at several news rooms including WBEZ, WTTW, Telemundo and City Bureau.
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