By adding more building bans in Evanston, city officials say they hope to shrink the scale of large housing projects neighbors call McMansions.
Evanston City Council instituted moratoriums on construction in the Fifth and Sixth wards earlier this year in an effort to encourage small residential developments. Another construction freeze is proposed for the intersection of Main Street and Chicago Avenue in the Third Ward and could go into effect if approved by the City Council on Monday.
Members of city planning commissions use the time a moratorium provides to change building and zoning ordinances regulating construction.
“The question is what changes will be made in zoning or building requirements that will affect the long term once the moratorium is over,” City Manager Roger Crum said. “They are working on (plans) as we speak.”
Ald. Melissa Wynne (3rd) said she is afraid a building planned for the Main and Chicago site won’t complement the neighborhood. “It’s too dense, too tall,” she said. “It’ll create too much more congestion and it’s not contextual.”
The council imposed the 120-day moratorium in the Fifth Ward on Aug. 8 in response to concerns about large new homes replacing boarded-up residences. Only residential areas are included under the current restrictions, so commercial builders still are allowed to develop.
Ald. Joseph Kent (5th) said he wants to accomplish more than simply mandate smaller construction projects by the time the moratorium ends on Dec. 15.
“The overall goal is to drive toward a conservation district,” Kent said. He wants “citizens working with developers as a way of keeping our arms around the character (of the neighborhood).”
Making segments of the Fifth Ward into a conservation districts would complicate the process for anyone eager to develop there.
The moratorium in the Sixth Ward won council approval June 9 and affects the entire Sixth Ward until Dec. 6. It mandates any replacement housing be no bigger than the size of the original home or 3,000 square feet, whichever is larger.
