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By Evelio Contreras

The Daily Northwestern

The developer and architect of the 24-story Park Evanston apartment building has settled a federal lawsuit for $1 million and agreed to make all of the building’s apartments accessible to the disabled within five years.

On Sept. 19, the Park Evanston, 1630 Chicago Ave., settled the lawsuit filed last December by Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago and the U.S. Justice Department. The developer, John Buck Company, already has started to renovate the building’s 283 apartments to meet federal guidelines under the Fair Housing Act.

“We don’t like to sit still,” said Kent Swanson, a principal for the company. “We do believe that we will be able to accomplish (more than) 90 percent of the repairs within 18 months.”

The building, which has served as a high-rent living alternative for some Northwestern students since it opened in 1997, will upgrade its current facilities to meet requirements.

“They are going to put a removable cabinet beneath the sinks so that people who use wheelchairs can remove the cabinet,” said Joan Laser, assistant U.S. attorney. “In 80 percent of the units, they are going to be widening every internal door to 32 inches. They are also going to be swinging the doors out so that a person using a wheelchair can enter a bathroom and close the door with privacy.”

Swanson said the modifications will be made on a unit-by-unit basis so tenants are not disturbed.

“We’ll be doing the renovations in between leases,” he said.

Currently, 20 percent of the apartments in Park Evanston meet disability requirements. That proportion fulfills the Illinois Accessibility Act — but not federal law under the Fair Housing Act, which mandates every apartment be accessible.

The Fair Housing Act was intended to end housing discrimination by race and national origin, and in 1988 Congress expanded it to cover people with disabilities. In 1991 Congress enacted design guidelines that applied to all new construction projects.

“This is the 19th case that’s been filed in the northern district of Illinois,” Laser said. “We started filing in ’96 and we’ve been filing them ever since.”

The Park Evanston’s architectural layout was viewed by testers from Access Living, an advocacy group for people with disabilities. They charged that the diagrams and plans did not comply with federal law.

“The (federal) government law always prevails,” Laser said.

Gensler Architecture, Design and Planning — which formerly was Harry Weese Associates — will be responsible for the bulk of the settlement. It will pay $900,000, which includes Access Living’s legal fees.

Karen Tamley, the director of Access Living, said the settlement would set an example that could increase the availability of housing for the disabled — a situation she described as a crisis.

“It took me several weeks to find a building where I could get in the front door,” Tamley, who uses a wheelchair, said of her own experience looking for housing. “This case will open up the housing market for people with disabilities and … send messages to developers and architects to comply.”

The John Buck Company will establish a $50,000 fund for past residents and applicants directly affected or inconvenienced by the Park Evanston’s inaccessibility.

“We know of one person,” said Max Lapertosa, an Access Living attorney. “Beyond that, the Justice Department is going to conduct a search using the Park Evanston records.”