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Council Votes to Develop Master Planning, Zoning for West Side

Several industrial properties in the area are for sale or already under contract by developers who want to construct new residental projects.

The Council agreed to pay Farr Associates $147,580 for architectural and design services for the area from Simpson Street to Church Street.

It also hired JJR, LLC for $131,794 to perform similar work for the area from Church Street to Greenwood Street.

It has yet to select consultants for the area from Greenwood Street to Greenleaf Street.

The consultants were originally expected to complete their work before a 120-day moratorium the Council imposed on issuance of new building permits in the area expires on Aug. 10.

But it has taken so long to hire the consultants that Community Development Director James Wolinski says he will ask the aldermen to extend the moratorium for an additional 90 days to give the consultants sufficient time to complete their work.

The contract with the consultants calls for them to carry out "an inclusive public participation process," but Mr. Wolinski said a schedule for those public meetings has not yet been set.

Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Ward, said, "Once the process is going, I don't want to see the regular folks be the only ones who participate. We need to get into the affected neighborhoods and get others who haven't spoken out before involved as well."

Mr. Wolinski said both firms hired specialize in a new zoning style called "form-based zoning" that focuses on the form and mass of structures rather than just the type of uses.

Until now Evanston has primarily used what's called "Euclidean zoning," named for the Village of Euclid, Ohio, which was the defendant in a 1926 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the power of municipalities to regulate land use through zoning. It tends to focus on separating disparate uses — keeping factories away from homes, for example.

Form-based zoning, by contrast, has become popular among new urbanist planners, who seek to encourage compact, walkable neighborhoods that may combine a variety of land uses.

At Budget Meeting, Aldermen Agree on a Half-Million Dollars for Animal Shelter

By Bill Smith

In next year’s capital budget, the City may provide at least half the funding for a new animal shelter, to replace the crowded faciiity on Oakton Street.

Puppies have won out over parks in the annual dog fight for City capital improvement funds.

At a meeting on the budget for the 2007-08 budget, aldermen voted to allocate $470,000 next year - about half the cost of a proposed expansion of the City's animal shelter.

The volunteer group Community Animal Rescue Effort (CARE) has promised to raise the rest of the money.

Susan Gapston,1806 Seward St., director of development for CARE, told aldermen the expansion would add two wings to the building - one would house a new dog kennel and the other a new area for cats.

Ms. Gapston said the existing shelter was built in the 1980s as a holding facility for animals and is so small that would-be cat owners end up having to get acquainted with their prospective new pets in the bathrooms.

In addition, she said, the volunteers frequently have to turn away tour groups of young people because the space does not accommodate more than a dozen or so youngsters at a time.

City Manager Julia Carroll said the one-time expense for the animal shelter could come from surplus revenue left over from this year's general fund budget.

Alderman Cheryl Wollin, 1st Ward, said she was impressed that the volunteer group promised to cover half of the project's cost.

The aldermen approved the animal shelter plan 7-2. Aldermen Lionel Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Ward, and Edmund Moran, 6th Ward, voted against it.

In other business Lois Roewade, 933 Maple Ave., chair of the Evanston Arts Council, pitched to the aldermen the art group's plan to dramatically increase funding for public art projects.

For more than a decade the Council has devoted 1 percent of its spending on new public buildings to public art projects. The arts group called instead for devoting 1 percent of all capital spending to art.

For next year that would amount to spending $427,000 under the Art Council's plan, compared to about $47,000 under the existing program.

City Manager Julia Carroll said she does not believe the City can afford that level of spending.

The Council approved a motion by Ald. Moran to raise next year's public art funding level to $125,000 instead.

The aldermen rejected a request from the Recreation Board to add nearly $1 million a year to what next year will be a $1.9 million appropriation for park renovation projects.

Board member Amina DiMarco, 1031 Ridge Court, said the board believes the City's parks should be renovated every 12 years, rather than about every 18 years, as is the case now.

Ms. Carroll said that she does not believe the City can afford to take on that big a new ongoing expense, and the aldermen agreed, rejecting any change to the capital improvement budget for parks.
The aldermen did support a request from Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward, to buy two new mobile cameras for the police department to help combat graffiti vandalism and other crime problems. The proposed budget had called for buying just one of the $45,000 devices.

Any of the votes taken at budget meetings can be revisited when the full capital improvement program comes up for final approval later this year.

City Considers Altering Required Placement of Solar Panels

By Bill Smith

Photo courtesy of City of Evanston

The City is considering new rules that could put a crimp in plans to put solar collectors on a house to cut utility costs. 

The Plan Commission's zoning committee spent several months drafting the new ordinance, under which the size of the house determines the size and placement of solar collectors. The rules would also limit the placement of the energy-saving devices on other buildings and in yards.

On June 14 the Plan Commission unanimously recommended that the City Council adopt new regulations on solar panels.

In an effort to hide the panels from the view of passersby on the street, the ordinance requires that panels be placed at least five feet back from the front façade of a building.

The impact and effectiveness of that rule will vary substantially depending on the design and positioning of a house on its lot.

Assuming a house has a foundation size of 24 feet by 40 feet, if the house has a gable-style roof in which the gable faces the street, the only limit would be that the solar collector must be set back 5 feet from the front façade.

For flat-roof buildings, the ordinance requires that solar collectors be set back 5 feet from the front façade, or less if they would not be visible from the street.

Committee Chair David Doetsch said solar collectors should be encouraged for their environmental benefits - they reduce energy consumption and decrease demand on public facilities and services. As long as they fit contextually on the roofs where they are built, he said, they will not have an adverse effect on adjacent properties.
The current rules on solar collectors in the zoning ordinance are much less detailed, but limit them to a height of 10 feet and a length of 20 percent of the building surface to which they are attached.

Expungement and a Haircut

Representatives of several organizations that help prisoners re-enter society held a seminar that offered practical advice on how those with criminal records can become productive members of society.
 
  At "Stepping Toward Empowerment" at the library in April, participants learned about how certain non-violent crimes can be expunged from a person's record.  

  They also learned some tips for making the transition from prison life back to mainstream society. Wearing "mainstream" or professional clothing rather than clothing often associated with anti-social stereotypes or gang activity, learning standard English, and learning to get along with police officers rather than antagonize them were among the recommended behaviors that participants learned at the seminar.
 
 Participants also learned about what sorts of crimes can be expunged, how records are sealed, where to get copies of records and how to read them.

  To give participants a head start on dressing for acceptance, Vince Gillon of CarePoint, one of the organizers of the seminar, brought a barber to give free haircuts to everyone who requested it.

  In collaboration with other social service programs, Mr. Gillon said CarePoint is gearing up to help a projected 30,000 inmates scheduled for release from prison in the next 18 months. Many of these men and women are expected to return to the Chicago area.
 
 Jay Terry, director of health and human services for the City, said Evanston  does not track men and women who have been released from prison.

Evanston Ready to Fight Emerald Ash Borer

The tiny emerald ash borer could wreak havoc here.

With confirmation of the emerald ash borer (EAB) infestation in Kane County last week, Forestry crews are monitoring the City's Ash trees for any symptoms associated with the beetle and plan to respond promptly to all suspected sightings.

Additionally, City staff will continue to observe the situation in Kane County to keep abreast of the infestation. In the meantime, Evanston residents are urged not to plant new ash trees on their properties nor purchase any firewood containing ash wood until further notice.

Questions and concerns can be directed to the City's Forestry Division, 847-866-2912 or pdagostino@cityofevanston.org.

Douglas J. Gaynor, director of Parks/Forestry and Recreation, said the State of Illinois has a plan already in place to combat the pest that is now being followed in Kane County.

The plan can be accessed at www.agr.state.il.us/Environment/Pest/inde.

City Forestry crews stand ready to assist the lead agencies in the fight, including  the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDA) and USDA, the Animal  and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Plant Protection and Quarantine (PPQ), should the EAB be found within the City limits.

"As described in the plan, these agencies would coordinate all efforts to contain an infestation should one occur here," said Mr. Gaynor.

Evanston has 4,059 ash trees on public property, representing 12.03 percent of the total population of public trees.
In 1999, the City created a policy whereby any tree species that made up more than 10 percent of the overall population would no longer be planted on public property. No ash trees have been planted on public property since 1999.

EAB: The Newest Tree Threat
According to a 2004 U.S. Department of Agriculture Pest Alert report, the emerald ash borer (EAB) was discovered in July 2002 in southeastern Michigan. The EAB has killed around 15,000 trees in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana since its discovery, and has been detected in Maryland and Virginia.

Regulatory agencies in those states have quarantined the areas of infestation.  Illinois has developed an Emerald Ash Borer Readiness Plan.
Larva of the emerald ash borer

The EAB was discovered in Kane County a few weeks ago. City officials said that due to confirmed infestation the City is watching for local signs of infestation.

EAB larvae feed on the inner bark of ash trees, eventually killing the trees by preventing transport of water and nutrients. Infested ash trees usually die after their third infested growing season.
Identifying the EAB
• Adult beetles have bronze or green bodies; metallic green wings and metallic purplish-red under-wings; and slender, elongated bodies (7.5-13.5 mm long)
• Larvae are white or cream-colored, with a 10-segmented abdomen (26-32 mm long)
Detecting EAB Infestation
• Adult beetles feed on leaves, leaving irregular leaf edges.
• Larvae feed on outer sapwood and phloem of the tree, creating small 20-30 cm S-shaped tunnels on the trunk and branches surrounded by discolored sapwood.
• Larvae leave 3-4-mm D-shaped holes on the tree surface.
• Woodpeckers often feed on EAB larvae and leave heavy woodpecker damage on the tree trunk and branches
For more information on identifying EAB, ash trees and signs of infestation, visit www.emeraldashborer.info.
Sources: http://www.agr.state.il.us/Environment/Pest/index.html; http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ep/eab/index.html, http://na.fs.fed.us/fhp/eab/id/id.shtm, http://www.emeraldashborer.info

Boy Scout Troop to Journey Along Lewis and Clark Trail

By Leah Lavelle

On July 29, some of the local Boy Scouts of Troop 912 will begin a week-long canoe trip in Montana, paddling the Missouri River as explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark did more than 200 years ago.

The Scouts, 13-18 years old, will make their journey with professional photographer and long-time troop member Richard Mack, who published "Lewis and Clark Trail: American Landscapes" in 2005. During his own two-year expedition beginning in spring 2002, Mr. Mack photographed landscapes along the route that the explorers took when they set out to map the country during the early 19th century.

A Troop 912 member of Eagle Scout rank since the late 1960s, Mr. Mack will lead the crew making the trip to Montana. Yet it will be the Scouts' adventure. "The kids are putting the trip together. …The adults are going along just because it's a cool thing to do," he said.

Mr. Mack will take the troop members back along the river around the same time of year that Lewis and Clark traveled the trail during 1804. "We'll be there almost to the night that they will have been there," he said.

The canoe trip, which will cover about 100 miles along the river, will give the Scouts a chance to use the skills they have practiced to earn their merit badges and Star, Life and Eagle Scout ranks.

"This is a part of the river that you can only access by being on the water, so you're in true wilderness for six days," said Mr. Mack.
Troop 912 recently returned from a three-day preparation trip, during which they practiced packing, camping and canoeing under the conditions that they plan to face in Montana. The troop is also preparing for their trip by reading literature on  Lewis and Clark and their journey.  The Scouts plan to document their trip with photographs and writings, which may appear in a future issue of the RoundTable.