While Evanston’s Land Use Commission questioned the need for a complete zoning overhaul under Envision Evanston 2045, it ultimately did not reach a zoning recommendation on Wednesday night.
The meeting was the commission’s first time discussing the zoning code in detail following City Council’s decision to split it from Envision Evanston’s comprehensive plan on Jan. 13. Last week, the commission spent hours debating the plan’s new timeline and elucidation.
Per the council’s new timeline, the commission must provide recommendations for the zoning code by the end of August.
At the meeting’s outset, Deputy City Manager Steve Ruger said the city cannot provide specific details on the zoning timeline because of the extensive feedback from last week’s meeting.
“We are still striving to meet the deadline the council has established, but we are not able at this point to put forward the steps moving forward towards that timeline,” Ruger said.
In response to city staff’s update, Commissioner Jeanne Lindwall urged them to incorporate the feedback Evanston residents have provided to the draft, citing the importance of the community’s voice.
Evanston resident Pat Mulhern took to the lectern and asked the commission who drew the current rezoning map. Commission Chair Matt Rodgers and city staff confirmed that a project consultant created the map.
“The comment from us would be that the citizens of Evanston and the staff of Evanston should have done the zoning map for Evanston,” Mulhern said. “Hopefully the commission agrees with that.”
The conflict between the roles of consultants compared to city residents and officials in the rezoning process took center stage throughout the zoning overhaul debate.
City residents from the 1000 to 1200 blocks of Hinman Avenue, including Mulhern, objected to the rezoning of the Chicago Avenue corridor between Lee and Dempster streets. A petition signed by 82 Hinman residents called Envision Evanston’s rezoning “abrupt and dramatic,” and rejected the area’s rezoning, which would increase building heights to a maximum of 100 feet.
Eric Swan, a resident of the 1100 block of Hinman Avenue, objected to allowing 100-foot tall buildings there under the designation, as it would deprive his home of sunlight during the day.
“At 1:30 [p.m.] in the winter and 4:30 [p.m.] in the summer, we’d be in complete shadow because of the design,” Swan said.
The public’s complaints over the rezoning’s impacts pushed Commissioner George Halik to call for a more granular approach to drawing the boundaries of each zoning district.
The contention behind the zoning overhaul was not just shared among Evanston residents participating in the quorum. Commissioners Kiril Mirinchev and Myrna Arevalo said that it would be “much easier” to compare and amend the old zoning ordinance than overhaul it.
Arevalo said she had asked the same question at the beginning of the rezoning process to “tag the differences” between the previous code and the new rezoning code.
“I was shut down, and [they] said ‘no,’” Arevalo said. “That it was going to be a whole new code, so we shouldn’t even look at the old code.”
To better model the differences between the old and new zoning ordinances for Evanston residents, Commissioner George Halik suggested creating a 3D model to display building heights and zoning changes, and Arevalo proposed overlays of existing photos of Evanston districts.
In the meeting’s final communications, Rodgers announced he would step down from the commission. His campaign for the 8th Ward council seat was previously announced in late July. Rodgers’ final meeting as chair will be next Wednesday, when the commission will elect its new chair.
Additionally, Evanston resident Paul Breslin asked the commission whether the city was terminating its contract with HDR, its primary consultant for Envision Evanston.
Rodgers said that was not a question that pertains to the commission, and that it will not be discussed at the commission’s meeting next week.
“Those are questions that City Council is going to have to deal with,” Rodgers said. “That’s not something staff gets to approve or we get to approve.”
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— After residents dissent, City Council divides, delays Envision Evanston zoning plan