A special committee formed to forge an agreement for a contested Evanston affordable-housing development made gradual progress at a meeting Monday night.
Composed of four aldermen, three supporters of the proposal and three opponents of it, the committee identified grievances and began to make concessions.
The development would include 27 housing units in a four-story building at the intersection of Church Street and Darrow Avenue. The Planning Commission rejected the proposal and recommended it be presented to the Planning and Development Committee, who first heard the plan on March 27.
The special committee was formed at last week’s Evanston City Council meeting in order to find a solution. The group will meet weekly before reintroducing the item to the Planning and Development Committee at its May 22 meeting.
“I don’t know what it is that we’ll come out with, but I think we need to be as open and as creative as possible,” said Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd), who is serving on the committee.
The most divisive issue appeared to be whether the units should be sold or rented. The current proposal has them as rented for 15 years before being sold, with the possibility of discounts through a savings program.
“A lot of developers come in asking for the biggest project possible,” said Richard Koenig, who is on the committee and represents the project’s developers, the Housing Opportunity Development Corporation. “We came in with the project that fits on the site comfortably.”
The opponents said a major problem was that residents will not be stakeholders until after the 15-year rental period elapses.
Evanston resident Carlis Sutton, a committee member in opposition to the project, called the proposal “insulting.” He encouraged the other members and particularly the developers to “show some good faith to the people who are going to rent for 15 years.”
Renters can be stakeholders in a property even if they aren’t owners, said John Fuller, a representative for the citizen group Evanston Community Development Corp. and a proponent on the committee.
“Just because you rent, don’t think you’re not a stakeholder,” he said. “You are.”
Koenig presented and fielded questions about the costs associated with the project, which he said would be $9.4 million.
“That’s the cost of building the building,” he said. “If it was cheaper, I would build it for cheaper.”
The committee also discussed the idea of using a community room on the first floor of the complex as a library. Koenig said he would support the idea, but opponents like Sutton said they might prefer a support service for residents, such as a bank branch or credit union.
“I just don’t think we’re shooting the arrow at the target,” Jean-Baptiste said. “We need to focus on that whole discussion (of ownership), to exhaust it and then deal with the secondary issues.”
The developer also agreed to refine the contract stating that residents have the option to buy their units after 15 years.
The committee will meet again on April 27 at the Evanston Civic Center to continue discussion and also talk about parking- and property-management issues.
Reach Matt Presser at [email protected].
