By Vincent Bradshaw and Matt PresserThe Daily Northwestern
Talks between Northwestern and Evanston about a possible relocation of the city government center have drawn the ire of nearby residents.
During the City Council meeting’s citizen comment period, seven Evanston residents spoke out against what they said they perceived to be secret negotiations between the university and city officials about a possible move of the city’s government hub to a parcel of land currently owned by NU.
The land, located in the NU Research Park near the intersection of Emerson Street and Maple Avenue, is used as a parking lot for NU officials and as the site for the city’s weekly farmers market sales.
Northwestern Neighbors, an Evanston citizen’s group, distributed flyers throughout the city over the weekend, alleging that the city would “purchase the university-owned parking lot … to build a new Civic Center” in exchange for the rezoning of NU-owned property west of Sheridan Road. Rezoning those properties would allow the university to build classrooms or dormitories where current historical administrative buildings sit.
Bob Atkins, president of Northwestern Neighbors, spoke at the meeting, saying neighbors were unhappy to hear about the alleged discussions.
“Our neighborhood should not be put on the trading block. Period,” he said to rousing applause from a number of residents.
Eli Wolf, a 20-year resident who lives near Foster-Walker Complex, said he was “so angry tonight,” raising his voice to the aldermen and banging his fist on the podium.
“You people have a responsibility to us who pay taxes,” he said. “You owe us. Do your duty.”
After the citizen comment period, Mayor Lorraine Morton addressed the issue, saying the council has held no discussions on swapping city lands.
“If they did it, I must have been on the moon at the time, because it didn’t happen,” Morton said.
The property in question was swapped from the city to NU in a 1999 agreement, in which the university gave the city a downtown parcel of land in exchange for property on the west side of Sheridan Road. The city used that land to build what is now Century Theaters.
Although no representatives of the university attended the council meeting, Eugene Sunshine, NU’s vice president of business and finance, said in a phone interview Monday afternoon the university would have fewer expansion options if the city took NU’s property through eminent domain.
The city can take the property through eminent domain if it can prove a need for the land, but NU would have an opportunity to resist through the legal system.
Sunshine said the city and NU have discussed alternatives in the event an agreement cannot be reached, but no specific solutions or dates to take the land have been discussed.
“This piece of land … is an extraordinarily valuable piece of land,” Sunshine said. “It’s a large piece of land, over an acre, and it’s close to the university. The school has very little such land near the campus.”
Ald. Cheryl Wollin (1st) said during the meeting that “the flyer that was distributed … was inaccurate” and that no neighbors had contacted her about the issue.
When approached after the meeting, Ald. Edmund Moran (6th) declined to comment on the issue of eminent domain.
After all the agenda items were discussed Monday night, the mayor announced the aldermen would enter executive session to discuss personnel and land acquisition matters.
The DAILY’s Laura Olson contributed to this report.
Reach Vincent Bradshaw at [email protected] and Matt Presser at [email protected].
