After multiple public meetings and preliminary designs, the Evanston shoreline repairs project has yet to find sufficient funding for its endeavors, according to project manager Stefanie Levine.
No other funding opportunities currently stand out as something “really amazing” the city should pursue, she said.
“We don’t have funding to do anything else,” Levine said. “We were originally hoping to get funding through (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), but it’s very difficult to qualify.”
The project was initially inspired by lakefront damage to the shoreline in 2020, when water levels in Lake Michigan reached a record high and a storm destroyed portions of the infrastructure that guarded the parks along the lake. The city completed emergency repair work at Elliot Park, Garden Park, Greenwood Beach and Dempster Street Beach.
In April 2022, the city contracted SmithGroup, a Chicago engineering firm, to design permanent protective solutions for the shoreline as a preventive measure. The proposed lakefront designs incorporated Evanston residents’ feedback through surveys and public meetings.
Residents involved in the process showed interest in improving accessibility along the lake and maintaining the natural landscape, especially native trees.
According to Leslie Shad, who founded and co-leads Natural Habitat Evanston, the trees help hold the lakefront in place and provide insects for its food web, making them indispensable to the lakefront’s stability and ecosystem.
The latest publicly available designs show plans to plant more native vegetation and widen pathways to accommodate accessibility requests. Levine said the final plan will be presented at some point to City Council, hopefully in February. The cost of the project could reach into the millions.
Cameron Davis, an Evanston resident and former senior adviser to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrators, believes there may be less expensive alternatives.
“Evanston should put lakefront protections in place at low or no cost before we spend too much money,” Davis said.
He also suggested looking into nature-based solutions, like installing an underwater reef, which can protect the shoreline without blocking visual access to the lake.
Another way the city can ensure the long-term stability of the shoreline is to create a lakefront protection ordinance, a solution the city’s neighbors have pursued.
In 1973, Chicago passed a lakefront ordinance that now regulates construction along the shore, protects Lake Michigan’s natural habitats and maintains public access to the lake. In February 2024, Winnetka passed a similar ordinance, restricting construction near the shoreline to protect their bluffs, which are steep slopes along the lake, against erosion.
Despite the city’s efforts to protect its shoreline, Evanston still does not have a comparable lakefront protection ordinance.
“City Council has spent countless hours on individual proposals on what to do over the lakefront, and it has wasted a lot of time,” Davis said.
A lakefront ordinance would give the city “a guiding vision” to follow and make decisions more transparent, he added.
Jerri Garl, who has lived in Evanston for 42 years and co-leads the Environmental Justice Evanston program, agrees about the necessity of a lakefront ordinance.
“We need a coherent and consistent vision and management plan to protect our lakefront that will inform all of its uses — from supporting natural habitat, to protection from flooding and erosion, to supporting the recreational uses and passive enjoyment that is so important to Evanston residents and visitors,” Garl wrote in a statement to the Daily.
Email: [email protected]
Related Stories:
— Early plans to fortify Evanston’s battered shoreline set to finish in 2024
— Construction project aims to protect South Campus shoreline from erosion