The Evanston City Council in a special meeting Monday approved a zoning ordinance for Evanston/ Skokie School District 65 that will enable the district to move ahead with construction of a multi-purpose administrative building on land north of King Lab School.
Following more than an hour of citizen comments opposing the ordinance – and two months of council consideration – the 6-2 vote allows a D65 amendment to expand the city zoning definition of a public school to include district administrative offices and support facilities. Under the amended definition, D65 may also supercede Evanston zoning codes and construct administrative facilities at any district location, including in residential areas.
The ordinance has drawn fire from Ald. Dennis Drummer (2nd) and several Martin Luther King neighborhood groups that contend the zoning amendment will decrease property values, take away from surrounding park and recreational space and increase traffic and air pollution in the area. The district plans to construct a new multi-story building for its administrative offices and Early Childhood Center north of King Lab on the current site of soccer fields and McDaniel Avenue canal parkland.
Rose Cannon, a member of the Martin Luther King Neighborhood Association, said the residential neighborhood, which contains three schools and draws more than 3,500 students daily, will be adversely affected by the building. She said the group might file a class-action lawsuit against the city for lost property value.
An administrative building will affect more than 113 homes and result in a potential $3 million devaluation of the area, Cannon said. The neighborhood is mostly black and lower-income, she said, and will be largely affected by the new construction.
“It is a civil rights issue in the fact that the people have asked for their living environment not to be defiled” from pollution and increased traffic, Cannon said.
Drummer contended the amendment also will affect not just the King Lab community but all areas of Evanston with D65 schools.
“This issue affects the whole city of Evanston,” Drummer said. “It involves every district and ward where there is a school.”
James Wolinski, director of the community development department, said the amendment would allow D65 to build in any district location without council approval.
Mary Erickson, a D65 school board member and chairwoman of the Early Childhood Education/administration building committee, said a new administrative building and early childhood center are necessary. The current administrative building at 1314 Ridge Ave. is decaying and will require extensive remodeling to serve D65 purposes. The district considered other locations, including land near Dawes School, Evanston Township High School and Lincolnwood School, but decided King Lab is the best solution, Erickson said.
“We have great respect for the neighbors on McDaniel,” she said. “But the one thing is, they don’t want the building there and there’s simply nothing we can do.”
Funding for the early childhood center and office facility comes from a $27.5 million bond referendum passed in March 2000. An earlier bond held by D65 was set to terminate at that time, Cannon said. If that bond had expired, Evanston residents would have gotten tax relief, she said. Instead, the bond was refinanced and Cannon said it will be expanded for a number of years. Tax bills won’t change, she said.
“The taxpayers of Evanston have been duped by this,” Cannon said.
Drummer and Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) voted against the ordinance, and Ald. Joe Kent (5th) abstained because he is a D65 employee.
“That is not fair,” Drummer said. “There is no fairness here at all.”
After approving the ordinance, the council approved a contract amendment with Harza Engineering for the city’s Relief Sewer Project, extending the contract’s duration and increasing the compensation ceiling by $346,289.
An ordinance for a special-use permit for two restaurants planned for the Dempster Street and Dodge Avenue shopping plaza was held at the developer’s request.
