One of the vacant lots, at 3802 W Chicago Ave. in Humboldt Park. Photo: Cook County Assessor

Update: Photographs from early March 2018 showing a little progress at two of the eight lots.

Chicago’s planning department is turning vacant lots on the South and West Sides into small stormwater management parks. The eight lots are scattered across the Humboldt Park and North Lawndale community areas. Building permits were issued last week.

Three of the sites will have a solar panel, three of them will have a rainwater runnel. Some will have plazas with permeable pavement, others will have underground water storage before water gets into the sewer, and others will have a small parking lot with permeable pavement.