By Marcy MirandaThe Summer NorthwesternEvanston residents and business owners anxious about the future of the city’s appearance gathered at the first downtown planning community meeting on June 21 to give design consultants their two cents.Maintaining the traditional look of downtown Evanston, keeping open and walkable green areas, and improving parking were among the most prominent issues people at the meeting vocalized. Residents also expressed a need for form-based code that sets guidelines for the types of buildings constructed downtown, moving away from approving buildings on a case-by-case basis.The Evanston City Council decided to hire a consulting team in 2006 to help create an updated downtown development plan. The team is headed by the Duncan Associates, a Chicago growth management firm, and includes four other companies specializing in zoning, urban design and planning, and traffic.After a brief summary of the downtown plan’s history by Kirk Bishop, vice president of Duncan Associates, about 150 people in attendance gathered around tables to raise questions and concerns about development during the two-hour meeting at the Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave. Attendees also discussed a set of guiding principals drafted by the downtown plan committee that specifies goals and considerations for future development. At each of the 10 tables was a map of downtown Evanston and the surrounding streets, as well as a professional member of the planning group.The June 21 meeting will be the first of several meetings planners intend on having with the public. The general meetings are designed to get input from the public, said Ald. Cheryl Wollin (1st). Two other meetings have been scheduled to be held concurrently on July 12, one at the Levy Senior Center, 300 Dodge Ave., and at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Center, 1655 Foster St.”Tonight, we begin an intensive round of community meetings to get everyone involved in the process,” Bishop said during the meeting. The team has already developed a traffic model, planning criteria and a retail market study. Within each group, residents and business owners gave suggestions and recommendations for design guidelines to be used for planning development by the firm. Recommendations made included encouraging a combination of locally-owned businesses and large chains, and maintaining the architectural character of downtown. Some residents also criticized the Council, saying it has too much power in the approval process of buildings. The most current plan being used by the Council for downtown development was created in 1989. Since then, Evanston’s downtown has undergone several changes and the Council has hired a consulting firm. Consultants said the time is right to revisit the development plan and make changes.”We need to re-look at the vision of downtown Evanston for the future,” Bishop said.The preliminary timeline for the plan is to have the team construct a model and architectural drawings of the plan and exhibit them to the public in late July. The team will present its recommendations to the council for voting in October, Wollin said.
Reach Marcy Miranda at [email protected]
