Residents clashed with city officials during a joint 1st and 7th Ward virtual meeting Wednesday evening over the Chicago Stars’ proposal to continue playing at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium through the 2027 season.
Last month, the team abandoned its bid for a unique-use permit to play at Ryan Field due to substantial community opposition. The Stars are now seeking to extend their stay at Martin Stadium, their current home, for an additional year.
Jeremiah Bebo, a city zoning official, joined Alds. Clare Kelly (1st) and Parielle Davis (7th) to field questions from virtual attendees.
The meeting grew contentious when residents voiced skepticism and pressed city officials on the minutiae of zoning and parking restrictions.
The harshest critic was 7th Ward resident Michael Lohr, who was most concerned about the effects of traffic congestion due to sports, which he said Bebo was “a little clueless” about.
“When the football season starts, all these streets on the north side and northwest side of Evanston are gonna be packed with cars, bumper-to-bumper, on both sides of the street,” Lohr said.
Davis and Lohr also sparred over the city’s parking survey process, which requires at least half of affected residents to return postcards indicating support before changes to parking rules can be made.
Lohr said the city had not done adequate “legwork” reaching out to residents, but Davis said a plurality of residents had submitted postcards supporting the existing parking rules.
“If the residents on your block agree with you, they should have completed the survey,” Davis said.
The Stars will likely not need a unique-use permit to stay at Martin Stadium because of zoning differences between the stadium and Ryan Field, Bebo said. However, he said the city has not formally approved or denied the Stars’ application.
Seventh Ward resident Lara Hamann said she was concerned about the structural integrity of Martin Stadium, which NU has previously stated was intended to be a temporary structure.
Bebo said Martin Stadium would be subject to “additional inspections” to protect public safety.
“That would be a condition of approval,” Bebo said.
Seventh Ward resident Sonia Cohen worried the Stars’ request would open the door to moving to Ryan Field after the 2027 season.
However, Bebo said that approval for Martin Stadium would not be “precedent-setting.”
“I am not concerned about that at all,” Bebo said. “The zoning at Ryan Field is very much tailored to Ryan Field. It was done that way intentionally. And if they did want to go to Ryan Field, they would be required to go through the whole process of (the) Land Use Commission, a public hearing and would ultimately need to get City Council’s approval.”
Seventh Ward resident Mary Rosinski disagreed, but she said the specifics of the zoning code would possibly have to be settled in court. She also expressed frustration that Evanston had not amended its zoning map to clarify specific use cases for stadiums.
“We can’t go back and change the past, but we can make this right,” Rosinski said.
Correction: A previous version of this story misattributed a statement made by Mary Rosinski. The Daily regrets this error.
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