Dogs and kids will have their day in Evanston.
The city council voted Monday night to build a soccer field and dog park on the north side of Evanston in an intergovernmental agreement with Skokie Park District.
Ald. Stephen Engelman (7th) raised questions about how Evanston and Skokie will share funding and maintenance of the park. But Douglas Gaynor, director of Evanston’s Parks/Forestry and Recreation Department, said that the partnership would balance the costs and responsibilities evenly.
Gaynor also explained that the new park would have sufficient parking to support the increase in traffic.
Ald. Arthur Newman (1st) strongly supported construction of the field.
“I want to thank the council for passing that very important piece of legislation,” Newman said.
But the largest point of contention for the council was easy as toast.
Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) questioned a change to the regulations of the Evanston Farmer’s Market, which would have allowed vendors to sell bread at the market.
“It became my firm conviction that this ordinance was adopted to advance the interest of one business within the city of Evanston, perhaps at the sacrifice of others,” Moran said.
And though the change only applied to four local bakeries, Moran said the language of the law favored one of the bakers. Newman, chairman of the committee that composed the amendment, said the decision by the committee was “innocent” and was not written with any individual bakery in mind.
“It makes it sound like something it isn’t,” Newman said.
The amendment was tabled for discussion, but the council plans to vote on it before the market opens on May 19.
Mayor Lorraine Morton began the meeting with a proclamation naming next week National Historic Preservation Week, with a specific reminder to appreciate neighborhood schools.
But in a short address that followed, Evanston resident and recent failed aldermanic candidate Betty Sue Esther told the council the neighborhood of the King Lab School would not be celebrating this week. Evanston/Skokie School District 65 has plans to build an administrative building at McDaniel and Lake streets, which potentially could devalue neighborhood homes.
“Those neighbors cannot call King Lab their neighborhood school, as many of their children do not attend,” Esther said.
Before Esther spoke, Evanston resident Peggy Tarr presented the council with issues she raised to the city’s board of ethics in a complaint against Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th). Tarr said Bernstein tried to stop her from speaking against him; the board dismissed Tarr’s complaint.
“Without a doubt, First Amendment rights are denied and certainly impeded when citizens exercising those rights are verbally assaulted, harassed and threatened with legal action or other acts of intimidation,” Tarr said.
The sign-review board also was put back before the council. An eight-year-old effort to reform regulations on signs owned by businesses around the city had its deadline moved to 2005. Meanwhile, the board will continue to consult local businesses about the regulations and survey the city’s existing signs.
Board member Carolyn Smith said businesses tend to resist bringing their signs to code because of high costs and potential threats to advertising. But Smith said the review is necessary to improve the appearance of the city, which in the end will help local businesses.
“It’s a catch-22,” Smith said.
The board discussed their review with the Planning and Development Committee before the council meeting. The committee also began putting future issues into an order of priority. A move for a comprehensive review of the Historical Preservation Ordinance drew some nervous laughter from the committee.
Engelman moved not to discuss the matter in light of Northwestern’s lawsuit against the city, in which the university claims the Historic District is illegal. But Newman said he wanted to start getting feedback from residents, “based on facts and examples and not people’s fears.”
