The proposed addition of a new property maintenance inspector to monitor the area surrounding campus could mean trouble for many off-campus students currently violating Evanston zoning ordinances and nuisance laws.
The new inspector would cover the area roughly bounded by Emerson Street, Noyes Street and Asbury Avenue, according to Ald. Joseph Kent (5th). The position is slated for approval at a Feb. 23 city budget meeting.
Kent, one of the aldermen who suggested the new inspector, said this area needs help to curb overcrowding issues that lax landlords fail to address.
“There are houses where the landlord is totally divorced to who he puts in the apartments,” Kent said. “What we’re finding is a lot of the houses have a landlord loading them up with as many students as he can.”
A current Evanston zoning ordinance allows no more than three unrelated people living in the same dwelling unit, regardless of the number of bedrooms, said James Wolinski, director of community development.
“It doesn’t matter if you have 100 bedrooms,” Wolinski said. “No more than three unrelated people can live there.”
Larry April, property manager for Wolin-Levin Inc., who manages apartments on Ridge and Maple avenues, said he doesn’t know if overcrowding is an issue in his buildings and is unsure if a new inspector is necessary.
“I’ve had very few complaints in the few years that I’ve managed the buildings over there,” he said. But, he added, more inspectors would mean more efficiency.
This efficiency might not be welcomed by many off-campus students who violate zoning ordinances, some of whom are already in trouble.
Education senior Brendon Desrochers said he has friends in Willard Apartments, 1901-07 Sherman Ave., who were just cited for having four women living in one residence.
“They were randomly inspected, and (the inspectors) discovered the four beds,” Desrochers said, “and now there’s the chance they might get evicted.”
She called the law “kind of archaic.”
The women in the residence declined to comment.
A new inspector will help respond to neighbors’ complaints, Wolinski said. On their regular schedule, inspectors only visit each residence once every four to five years, but they try to visit residences within 48 hours of receiving a complaint.
“We’re not able to give it the kind of attention neighbors feel we need to,” Wolinski said of the current situation — citing not only occupancy complaints but also trash issues and loud parties.
“What we’re dealing with are nuisance properties and properties that are being milked for whatever they can be milked for,” Kent said, coming back to the issue of what he deemed “absentee landlords.”
But Isaac Browne, the landlord of 2110 Wesley Ave., said he checks in with his tenants once or twice a month and doesn’t think a new inspector is necessary for his area.
“I do keep very close contact,” he said. “And they are at liberty to call me if they need anything.”
Cameel Halim, president of Wilmette Real Estate and Management Company, said four inspectors are enough for the city.
“I think the area in south Evanston is over-inspected,” Halim said.
But Kent said the city needs a new inspector to ease the pressure off the existing four.
“It’s just a rough, rough thing to do,” Kent said. “When you have inspectors running from one end of the city to another, it’s a big job.”
