About 15 residents attended the city’s virtual listening session Thursday to share their opinions on the future of Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center.

The Civic Center originally planned to move city government operations to their temporary lease at 909 Davis St. but will postpone it to the first quarter of 2025. The future of the Civic Center still hangs in the balance, with the city debating between renovating the 123-year-old building to return back after the end of their temporary lease or relocating the Civic Center permanently.

City Engineer Lara Biggs led the discussion with Evanston-based community planning company Teska Associates Vice President of Planning Michael Blue.

“What we’re really trying to get at is what do people want out of their city hall so that we can understand how to best use funds to provide what is needed,” Biggs said.

She said there are a range of challenges facing the current Civic Center at 2100 Ridge Ave. The electricity and HVAC systems are in poor condition and the building is oversized, Biggs said.

According to Biggs, the cost of renovating both the Civic Center and the police and fire headquarters would cost approximately between $120 million to $160 million.

“Although it’s a little counterintuitive, the most expensive option is really the renovation for both facilities,” she said.

While 909 Davis St. is currently the tentative temporary location, Biggs presented several options for a Civic Center permanent relocation that she said could work “quite favorably” for the city. Among these were 909 Davis St., 1703 Orrington Ave., 1801 Maple Ave. and 900 Clark St.

“We vetted them enough to know that they would work in a long-term situation,” she said.

Participants responded to a range of survey questions about features and services they wanted in the Civic Center and how they viewed the balance between the Civic Center’s cost and offerings.

Blue said for Teska, it was important to know how residents “engage” with the city to help drive their proposal for City Council, which will be presented in the coming months.

Participants also shared their concerns with each other in breakout rooms.

Resident Doug Macdonald said he felt the renovation cost of the Civic Center was overestimated. 

“Perhaps people could look again into having the city hall on Ridge revamped,” Macdonald said.

Biggs said studies conducted to assess the physical state of the Civic Center unveiled 17 years worth of deterioration inside of the Ridge building. 

Resident Emily Guthrie did not find that to be a strong enough reason to justify the expense of a relocation. 

“Intentional neglect of 2100 Ridge doesn’t justify moving,” Guthrie stated in the meeting chat. 

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Email: [email protected] 

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