At its first meeting in a year, a joint city-school committee resolved Thursday to address security and safety issues at a new nature center at Evanston Township High School and to move forward on a black cultural sculpture park that would require the leasing of some school-owned land.
The City-School Liaison Committee — composed of aldermen, city staffers and officials from District 202 and Evanston/Skokie School District 65 — also explored ways to increase future communication between the districts and the city.
The committee, which is supposed to meet every two months from September to May, will continue its regular schedule next year.
There has been no movement for the past three years on a plan for a black sculpture park surrounding the Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center, 1655 Foster St.
The city is hoping for a long-term lease or purchase of several parcels of District 65-owned land just east of the center on which to build the sculpture park. The land currently is held by the school district for future use.
“The community has been after a sculpture park for quite a while, and everything’s kind of on hold,” said Ald. Joseph Kent (5th), whose ward includes the park. “A lot of it waits to see if the district will allow us to have one parcel, two parcels or all of it.”
City Manager Roger Crum said the city needed a response quickly, because it had been awarded grants to help construct the park but needed to decide how to allocate them soon.
There has been some “preliminary discussion” within District 65 on the issue, said Superintendent Hardy Ray Murphy. He said he supported the plan and that there would be more discussion at future meetings.
City officials also addressed concerns about the new nature center, located behind the football field at ETHS, 1600 Dodge Ave. The center is scheduled to open for the next school year.
Although he is “very much in favor” of the project, Kent said there were some security and safety issues that needed to be considered.
Some people in the community were concerned that a fence surrounding the area was too low to stop kids from climbing over it, Kent said. Other concerns included security lighting, adequate signage and mosquitoes breeding in a nearby pond.
Murphy said he hoped elementary- and middle-school students could use the center too.
A year after the committee’s last meeting, Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd) suggested that the group explore other ways to foster communication between the districts and the city. Better communication could lead to more cooperation in areas where city and school programs overlap, such as social services, Jean-Baptiste said.
“It’s worthwhile to set (up) liaison personnel that would be in touch with each other … so we would be able to update each other on the progress we’re making,” he said. “(There needs) to be some way to find a way for issues to flow from the committee meetings.”
High school officials also expressed interest in a possible tax increment financing district at Church Street and Dodge Avenue, which borders ETHS’ property. The TIF district would provide financial benefits to developers and business owners.
But Crum said it was premature to talk about the issue.
“There is no official position on that,” he said. “We don’t have a proposal.”
