Evanston City Council tonight could approve a 120-day halt on new construction projects near Main Street and Chicago Avenue, responding to residents’ concerns about traffic congestion and dense commercial development in the area.
City Council also could take the first steps toward designating a portion of Howard Street for redevelopment through tax incentives.
The area near Main and Chicago currently is zoned for high-rise business development, but Evanston resident Debbie Hillman said she hopes a moratorium would give city officials time to rezone the area. Hillman said she questioned why the area was zoned for such dense commercial buildings in the first place.
“People kept thinking commercial, commercial, commercial,” Hillman said. “They didn’t think of the impact on streets one block over.”
The council approved moratoriums in the Fifth and Sixth Wards to curb the spread of dense residential developments. Though the proposed moratorium would apply to business rather than residential development, Ald. Joseph Kent (5th) said the rationale is the same.
“There’s the philosophy that the only way to build now is up,” Kent said. “And if that’s the philosophy, it’s not solving any problems of streets and congestion in residential areas.”
Although the moratorium would be a tool to temporarily discourage development, the city could also move forward on a method for redevelopment along Howard.
After an outside consulting firm found that the area of Howard between Ridge Avenue and the El tracks qualified as a TIF district, the Economic Development Committee last month voted to bring the matter before the council.
No decision will be made tonight, but the council could vote to establish dates for further meetings on the TIF district.
A TIF district is a tool to encourage development in blighted areas. When the district is approved, all tax revenue is capped for 23 years, allowing any increased tax revenue to be directed to redevelopment in the TIF district.
The council also will consider a number of other development proposals. Among those is one at 801 Chicago Ave. The Plan Commission recommended the council deny the proposal because the developer was not complying with zoning ordinances.
Before the full council meeting, the city’s Planning & Development Committee will discuss a proposal to expand and renovate the Omni Orrington Hotel, 1710 Orrington Ave. That committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. tonight.
The full council will convene at 8:30 p.m. The Administration and Public Works Committee will meet at 7 p.m. All meetings will be held at the Evanston Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave, and are open to the public. For more information visit www.cityofevanston.org.
