After extensive debate and legislative maneuvering, the City Council allowed a moratorium on downtown construction in Evanston to expire Dec. 11.

In their Dec. 10 vote, only five of the required nine aldermen supported a continued ban on construction. The council has an opportunity to create a new moratorium at their upcoming Jan. 14 meeting.

The freeze on development was implemented on June 11 to allow the Plan Commission more time to approve the Downtown Plan, which will set goals and regulations for construction in the commercial area of the city.

The council allowed the ban to expire even though the Downtown Plan has not yet been finalized.

Proponents of a longer moratorium argued that construction applications would flood municipal offices once the moratorium ended. Without the moratorium, contracts that do not fit the new Downtown Plan could slip through the cracks before the Council approves it.

Critics believed that the ban would cast Evanston in a negative light to potential businesses. Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th) said he opposed the extension because he believed it was unnecessary.

Despite the end of the moratorium, there have been no new construction applications since Dec. 11, said James Wolinski, redevelopment director. The only project under review is the hotly debated 49-story tower at 708 Church Street.

Wolinski said he did not think the construction ban had a negative impact on Evanston’s image, although he admitted it might have if it continued.

The council extended the moratorium when they realized the freeze would end on Dec. 9 – before they would be able to approve the Downtown Plan. The council voted 6-2 at their Nov. 26 meeting to create a two-day extension.

The Planning and Development Commission was originally supposed to decide whether to renew the endowment, but Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste’s (2nd) absence led to a 4-4 tie on the issue.

This left council to act on the issue at their Nov. 26 session. If it was left unchanged, the moratorium would have expired one day before their next meeting.

Herb Hill, assistant corporation counsel for the Plan Commission, suggested that the Council suspend the rules and create a two-day extension so lawmakers could discuss the merits of a longer moratorium before it expired.

The aldermen voted unanimously to suspend legislative rules to introduce and vote on the same item in one night, an action which usually requires two meetings. Alds. Anjana Hansen (9th) and Edmund Moran (6th) were the extension’s strongest advocates.

The extension was intended to give the council an opportunity to discuss the issue at their Dec. 10 meeting, and possibly approve a longer moratorium. Despite this extension, the council did not vote to continue the moratorium at their Dec. 10 meeting.

The council is not expected to reinstitute the moratorium on Jan. 14, Wolinski said.

Reach Sean Walsh at [email protected].