National-Louis University’s contract to purchase a vacant office building at 1620 Central St. and convert it into a dormitory has elicited heated discussion among Evanston residents.
The site is slated to be the Professional Assistant Center for Education, said Tracy Kremer, the university’s media relations manager. The program is a post-secondary program designed to help young adults with multiple learning disabilities work and live independently. The school already has locations in Evanston, but school officials want to move the residential part of the campus from Old Orchard Road in Skokie to Central Street in Evanston.
“We moved to the location in Skokie about a year and a half ago, basically to better suit who our students are today, ” Kremer said. “But when we moved, the new sites didn’t complement the residential component, so we’ve been looking for an ideal site to accommodate them since then.”
The Central Street site would house 50 students and six live-in advisors, but that plan would require some rezoning.
Zoning Hurdles
The building became available in late August, according to Jeff Smith, president of the Central Street Neighbors Association. The property is currently zoned as an office and would have to apply for zoning as a special use property to operate as a dormitory.
“We had been working since July specifically on the zoning implementation of the Central Street master plan, and in one of the later sessions, the city staff proposed changing the office districts to allow dormitories of special use,” Smith said. “We understood that the purpose of that was for the National-Louis University PACE program.”
The Central Street Neighbors Association did not take a position to either support or oppose the zoning change, Smith said.
Some residents are now objecting, however, to what they feel is an “eleventh-hour move,” and don’t think the dormitory should be considered in the Central Street master plan.
Ken Bailey, a resident of Central Street, said he felt the natural process of zoning was circumvented by the university’s proposal.
“Dormitories never appeared in either the Central Street plan or discussion of implementation,” he said.
Bailey represents the group of residents from the properties next to 1620 Central St., including a row of townhouses built very close to the border of the 36-space parking lot behind the building.
He presented their case at a Jan. 14 city meeting, recommending that an amendment be made to eliminate additional special uses in the master plan, including the dormitory.
“This does not infringe (the university’s) right to request a change in the city code,” Bailey said. “We believe the amendment we were proposing actually served to strengthen integrity and purpose of Central Street plan itself.”
Bailey also said that because the dormitory is an extension of the school, the property would become tax-exempt. The city would lose nearly $100,000 in annual tax revenue if the university obtained the property, he said.
An Ideal Location
But there are ways for students to give back to the community, Kremer said. A major component of the curriculum is its internship program, and Evanston remains an ideal location largely because of the connections program director Carol Burns has with local employers.
“Helping young adults with learning disabilities is not only taking part in classes but also a pretty rigorous internship program, so our relationship with local employers has really helped our program succeed,” she said. “In Evanston these students can get around – there are so many opportunities for them there without a car.”
Lynn Sloan supports the program and its move to Central Street. Her daughter, Jane Theodore, 22, graduated from the program about two years ago.
“I don’t live that far away from this proposed new site, and frankly I think it would be a real plus for the neighborhood,” Sloan said. “I think helping pretty able adults who have multiple learning disabilities and having them really fully integrated into the community is all for the good.”
Theodore lived in the dormitory at Isabella Street and Sheridan Road before it was torn down, which was ideal since she felt independent but not too far from home, Sloan said.
“Someone like my daughter needed more support, and the PACE program provided internships,” Sloan said. “She had a much better sense of her strengths and weaknesses in the marketplace and what she wanted to do.”
The agreement to purchase the building is contingent on council approval, Kremer said. The issue is on the agenda for tonight’s meeting at 6:30 p.m. at the Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave.
Reach Corinne Lestch at [email protected].
