Aldermen and city officials spent Valentine’s evening in each other’s company, as the much-debated “Green Building Ordinance” returned to the Evanston City Council.
An amendment to the “Green Building Ordinance” was discussed at a Planning and Development Committee meeting Monday night and introduced to the full City Council an hour later. The amendment would provide alternatives for buildings that fail to meet the city’s LEED Silver certification requirement.
“We’re not undoing the green ordinance but providing under unique circumstances the ability for the council to be flexible,” said Steve Griffin, Director of Community and Economic Development.
The amendment was proposed and placed on a hurried timetable because a potential business owner has informed officials that Evanston’s green ordinance is not economically feasible, said City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz, who claimed responsibility for the proposal.
“This business has indicated to us that they would like to come to Evanston but the costs are too high and they would like to make a decision by the end of February,” Bobkiewicz said.
Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) proposed an additional amendment at the committee level increasing the size of buildings that could seek alternatives to the LEED Silver certification requirement.
Evanston’s “Green Building Ordinance,” enacted last year, was the product of three years of work between city officials and citizen committees. However, Bobkiewicz said he has received little feedback from potential businesses regarding the ordinance in the past year – until this particular owner threatened to set up business elsewhere. Bobkiewicz did not mention the business by name during council.
“Good, bad, or indifferent, as best as we can tell, the green building ordinance had no impact on development in the city of Evanston in its first year,” Bobkiewicz said.
Members of the Evanston Environment Board and Citizens Greener Evanston committees addressed aldermen during citizen comment sessions of the committee and council meetings in response to the stark introduction of the amendment.
Ald. Coleen Burrus (9th), a supporter of environmental building standards in Evanston and Northwestern’s Director of Corporate Relations, said the amendment marks the first time she has been disappointed by city administration during her tenure as representative of her ward.
“Let’s be honest, this change is for one location, one business,” she said. “I equate this reduction to the green building standards to lowering admissions standards at a college in order to admit more students.”
Bobkiewicz said staff would consult with citizen environmental groups before the green ordinance is revisited at the next City Council meeting Feb. 28.
The City Council also approved the City Manager’s $5.3 million Capital Improvements Program and authorized a class P liquor license to Few Spirits, 918 Chicago Ave.
City Clerk Rodney Greene delivered bags of candy to each City Council member before the meeting, which began around 9 p.m. after the preceding meeting of the Planning and Development Committee ran more than 90 minutes. Bobkiewicz wore a pink tie, Ald. Delores Holmes (5th) donned a pin in the shape of a heart and Ald. Jane Grover (7th) waved to her husband presumably watching the meeting on television at home.
Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl opened the meeting by recognizing Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd), who will leave the City Council March 4 to join the Cook County Circuit Court. The 10-year representative of the west Evanston ward received a standing ovation and tributes from several fellow aldermen.
“Ald. Jean-Baptiste and I have broken up lately, but maybe in the next two weeks we can get back together,” Ald. Rainey said. “He is my second favorite.”
Mayor Tisdahl said she has begun consulting ward residents to appoint a replacement alderman after Jean-Baptiste’s last City Council meeting, Feb. 28.
