CT A HOSTING FLY OVER FORUM

The CTA will hold an “open house” on Thursday to gather public input to help craft a vision for how a patch of the Lake View neighborhood will look following the completion of the “Belmont Flyover” — a controversial improvement project that will change the face of several acres of land just south ofWrigley Field.

The CTA is in the process of acquiring 16 properties near the intersection of Belmont and Clark that will be needed to complete the project, which is slated to begin late next year and will take four or five years to complete.

Several properties that will be used for construction staging purposes will ultimately be resold to developers, according to CTA spokes woman Tammy Chase.

The CTA plans to gauge what the community would like to see the land be used for and create a plan it will share with potential developers to use as a guidepost.

The main purpose of the gathering: “Give us your ideas,” Chase said.

The flyover would elevate northbound Brown Line tracks over Red and Purple Line tracks to alleviate a major bottleneck.

Critics contend the project — also known as the Red- Purple Bypass — would run an L train even higher over existing tracks, creating a transit “roller coaster” that would tower over the neighborhood.

The meeting on Thursday is scheduled to take place from 6 to 8 p. m. on the third floor of the Hoover- Leppen Theatre, 3656 N. Halsted.

A second meeting to discuss redevelopment of land around a separate CTA project — the rebuilding of the Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr stations and more than a mile of adjacent tracks — is slated for May 11 from 6 to 8 p. m. at 5917 N. Broadway. That project is also slated to begin late next year.

Service on the Brown, Purple and Red lines will continue throughout construction, Chase said.