Surprises come few and far between in Evanston city government.
As expected, Mayor Lorraine Morton vetoed the controversial Northeast Evanston Historic District in June. Likewise, no one flinched when City Council voted 6-3 to override Morton’s rejection.
Morton, who was out of town for the meeting, submitted a four-page letter to the council explaining the logic behind her decision. She cited a desire to re-establish community harmony, concerns about potential lawsuits and the feeling that establishing the district would “stymie or eliminate” negotiations between the city and Northwestern.
“Though I do endorse the principles of preservation of community resources, I do not feel it is in the best interest of our Evanston community to support a continuation of this animosity by signing an ordinance agreeable to some residents and much opposed to others,” Morton wrote in her letter. “This mayor will not support favoritism for some and legalize denial to others.”
City Council voted 6-3 on May 22 to approve the district after amending its northern boundary twice. The first amendment moved the boundary south from the Evanston/Wilmette border to Lincoln Street, while the final one moved it a half-block south to an alley between Lincoln and Colfax streets.
The other boundaries remained the same: Emerson Street to the south, Sheridan Road to the east and Sherman or Ridge avenues to the west. About 50 Northwestern buildings are included in the district.
The boundary change cut out about half of the homeowners in the district — most of whom opposed it — and resulted in a district 30 percent smaller than the one originally proposed. The district means property owners affected by the district — including NU — must seek city approval before remodeling or demolishing their buildings.
Eugene Sunshine, NU’s senior vice president for business and finance, called the mayor’s veto a “courageous action” and said it reflected the mayor’s desire to serve the city’s best interests.
Sunshine said the decision to move the district’s boundary south to Lincoln Street removed any doubt that the district’s sole intention was to limit NU. Administrators fear the district could be used by city officials as leverage when discussing other town-gown issues.
“The thin veil of what the district was all about was pierced or eliminated entirely,” Sunshine said. “We were extremely disappointed but hardly surprised.”
Ald. Stephen Engelman (7th), who voted against the district in May, said he supported the mayor’s veto because of the residents’ vocal opposition to the district. Of the 160 homeowners in the district, 40 have signed petitions in favor of the district while 53 have signed petitions in opposition to it.
“No district will be effective if it does not have the support of those people whose conduct it is supposed to regulate,” Engelman said at the meeting. “Forty out of 60 is hardly an overwhelming vote of support.”
But Ald. Arthur Newman (1st), who voted in favor of the district and the override, said his main motivation in voting for the district and against Morton’s veto was to preserve the NU-owned historic buildings that line Sheridan Road and to prevent the university from expanding westward.
“If this ordinance prevents Northwestern from purchasing one more house west of Sheridan Road, then it’s a victory for the tax rolls,” Newman said. “Some of the houses may go down, but they’ll go down because of the approval of the historic preservation committee.”
But Sunshine said this “victory” will have serious consequences in relation to future negotiations between NU and City Council.
“They chose essentially to ignore what we had to say,” Sunshine said.”This is a major, major problem for us and it has major ramifications for how we feel and think.”
