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Civic Center Friends Hope for Referendum Question on April Ballot

Nearly two years ago the City Council (with a different aldermanic make-up) voted unanimously to relocate from the Ridge Avenue building, a former Catholic girls' school. Their plan was to sell the property but not Ingraham Park, which abuts the parking lot behind the building. The proceeds from the sale would then be used for a new Civic Center. Although no specific proposal has been submitted for Council vote, the latest desired site for the new Civic Center was the vacant lot at University Place and Oak Avenue, where the farmers market is held from May through November.

Northwestern University owns that site, and University officials have suggested that they might consider selling or swapping the land in exchange for zoning relief along the west side of Sheridan Road but would likely challenge the City's use of eminent domain to seize the property. The Sheridan Road properties are at present protected by a consent decree between the City and the University as settlement of a lawsuit over the Northeast Evanston Historic District. Modifications to the consent decree must receive judicial approval.

At least two questions persist: the cost of repairing the present building and the full cost, including land and parking, of a new civic center.

Rehab costs
Estimates in reports commissioned by the City over the past years put repair costs at about $20 million. The Friends of the Civic Center dispute that amount but acknowledge the City has been reluctant to put a lot of money into rehabbing the building.

The committee, composed of architects and designers, as well as Mayor Lorraine Morton and former mayor Jay Lytle, has prepared its own data and proposal "showing the $20 million figure is bogus," said Mr. Kennedy, "and we've showed them how to pay for the repairs by selling the air rights to the parking lot behind the building for development as townhomes."

Committee members acknowledge the City has not spent money on needed repairs - "and the building is not getting any younger," says Mr. Kennedy. Presently most of the entrances are covered with canopies to prevent the roof tiles that occasionally pop off the roof from falling onto patrons and employees entering and exiting the building. "Council does not want to do even minimal repairs. It is almost as if they want to keep the scaffolds up and continue to repair the floors with duct tape so that residents of Evanston will agree with them that the building is beyond repair," said Mr. Kennedy. "With new building costs rising and the housing/condo market getting softer every day - making a development on the 2100 Ridge site more risky - the core assumption that the Council can have a new Civic Center for free is very questionable," said Mr. Kennedy. "My biggest fear is that they will start to build something then run out of money and say, 'It's too bad; we'll just have to tax the residents.'"

City officials have hinted that, with a downtown location, they could use spaces from the Maple Avenue Garage for employees; and, presumably, patrons of the new civic center would have to use that garage or other public parking spaces. Doing so would subtract the cost of parking spaces from the cost of the new civic center - $15,000 or more per parking space. Most of the 262 spaces at the Civic Center are filled each day.

The committee proposes taking the issue to the people of Evanston in the form of this non-binding referendum question: "Shall the Evanston city government remain in the current Civic Center located at 2100 Ridge Ave.?" It is "a yes-or-no question that is simple, straight-forward and to the point," says Mr. Kennedy.

Civic Center on the West Side?

By Bill Smith

Some Evanston residents hope to persuade City officials to build a new Civic Center on the west side -- possibly on the former Robinson bus property on the south side of Emerson Street west of Ashland Avenue.

An organizer of the group, Walter Kihm, says he has been talking to a lot of people about the concept.

"Everybody I've talked to in the west side community seems to be for it," Mr. Kihm said. "They all see it as a plus for the area and want to know what they can do to help bring it about."

The City Council has been trying to find a new location for the Civic Center since aldermen concluded over a year ago that the existing building, the former Marywood Academy, needed too much repair work for renovation to be flexible.

The aldermen reportedly have been considering sites downtown, including the Northwestern University-owned parking lot on University Place behind the Hilton Garden Inn and the library parking lot on Chicago Avenue between the Woman's Club of Evanston and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union properties.

The irregularly shaped Robinson parcel includes a small shopping center, an abandoned gas station and bus parking and garage space fronting on Emerson that runs back along the former Mayfair rail right-of-way a full block south to Lyons Street.

It totals about 160,000 square feet. By comparison, the existing Civic Center site, excluding the park behind it, totals about 287,000 square feet. The NU parking lot has about 50,000 square feet and the library parking lot about 32,000 square feet.

The Robinson site is just under a mile from the traditional center of downtown Evanston at Fountain Square. That is about 300 feet further from Fountain Square than the existing Civic Center.

Community Response Sought for 959 Dobson

By Bill Smith

A project model for the corner of Dobson Street and Ridge Avenue has presented to the Plan Commission; next, neighbors can weigh in.

Neighbors will get a chance next on Jan. 10 to tell the Plan Commission what they think of a developer's proposal to build a five-story, 33-unit condominium building at the corner of Dobson Street and Ridge Avenue.

The current R5 zoning permits a five-story building, but would limit its height to 50 feet. Because of its pitched-roof design, the proposed development is 60 feet tall to the average height of the roof.

Existing zoning calls for a limit of 22 dwelling units. The proposed project also exceeds the zoning code's lot-coverage and yard-size requirements. But with 46 garage spaces, it meets the City's parking requirement.

Because it is proposed as a planned development, the City has the option under the zoning code to grant the variances the developer is seeking.

The developer's attorney told the Plan Commission in mid-December that the project would clean up a site at 959 Dobson St. that is currently occupied by three dilapidated rental apartment buildings that are "beyond rehabilitation" and that have been the subject of "30 pages of police reports" regarding criminal activity ranging from battery to theft in the past two years.

Project architect Robert Kirk, of Group A Architects in Arlington Heights, said the proposed building would have 17 one-bedroom and 16 two-bedroom units. Parking would occupy the ground floor and basement levels.

Mr. Kirk said the building would have "all natural materials," would be designed to achieve environmental design certification, and would be compatible with the adjacent Oakton Historic District and its shingle-style cottages and bungalows.

"It will have a stone base, smooth brick with thin joints and green trim around the windows," he added.

Mr. Kirk said the developers have had four meetings with residents of the community and have agreed to provide four or five large stone columns to mark entry points to the historic district.

He said the design would create a park-like setting in front of the building and preserve existing mature trees on the site.

The developer's traffic consultant, Jennifer Mitchell, said the project would not result in any significant increase in traffic delays in the area.

Sharon Rizzo, a realtor marketing the project, forecast that units would be priced between $300 and $330 per square foot. One-bedroom units, she said, would average 950 square feet and be priced from $220,000 to $334,000, while the two-bedroom units would be up to 1,600 square feet in size and would be priced at an average of $414,000.

The Plan Commission will hear from neighbors with views about the project at the Jan. 10 meeting.

Two Department Heads, Health Department
Clinic Threatened

By Mary Helt Gavin

Although the City Council is still about two months away from approving its budget for fiscal year 2006-07, the RoundTable has learned that the positions of at least two department heads and up to 15 employees are on the chopping block.

Sources told the RoundTable that the facilities management department is likely to be subsumed into the public works department. David Jennings would remain as head of that department, but Max Rubin would have to seek another position. Paula Haynes's position, director of human relations for the City, would also be eliminated. In addition, the clinic positions and services in the City's health department - about 15 in all - would be eliminated, sources said.

These and possibly other cuts are an open secret in the Civic Center, where budgetary meetings are occurring regularly. Many aldermen balked when Ms. Carroll proposed a 13-percent increase in taxes at a budget policy meeting several weeks ago. These proposed cuts may be in response to the City Council's reluctance to increase property taxes.

Sources told the RoundTable that the cuts are part of City Manager Julia Carroll's plan to rework City staff and procedures so that certain budgetary decisions would not have to be made year after year.

The City is also considering outsourcing several health department services to the two hospitals, to avoid duplication of services and to reduce City costs. However, a former City employee said that doing so would leave a lot of Evanston residents without needed health services. She said the City's health department "has for years seen people who won't otherwise be seen" by medical personnel. She also said that vulnerable residents - particularly those with sexually transmitted diseases, pregnant teens and new mothers - would be unlikely to seek help at one of the hospitals, particularly given the waiting time for appointments.

This year the City's operating expenses are not the main culprit. The fire department and police pension funds - mandated by the state but funded locally - require increases this year of 20 to 50 percent over last year's amount. Ms. Carroll must present a tentative budget to the City Council by Jan. 1, 2007; she has scheduled a press briefing on the budget for 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 3.

Property Sales Down in Volume, Up in Price

By Bill Smith

The number of property sales in Evanston is nearly 6 percent below year-ago levels, is down nearly 19 percent from two years ago.

Yet City of Evanston real estate transfer tax records, which include commercial as well as residential sales, still show a rise in prices for the City's fiscal year, largely the result of the October sale of the Orrington Plaza complex for $54.5 million.

The average selling price for the year so far is $499,964, up 11 percent from a year ago and 26 percent from two years ago. If the 1603 Orrington Ave. transaction is excluded, however, the average selling price is $462,228, up less than 3 percent from last year.

The City charges its transfer tax on real estate sales at a rate of $5 per $1,000 of selling price. The City expects to raise $4 million from the tax by the end of its fiscal year in February. An English Tudor-style mansion at 1225 Sheridan Road that sold for $3.4 million was the most expensive property changing hands in Evanston last month.

Three other single-family homes topped the million dollar mark. They included a 5,000-square-foot home at 2146 Brown Ave. that sold for $1.365 million, a home at 1422 Forest Ave. that went for $1.15 million and a French Provincial style home at 3014 Payne St. that sold for $1.07 million.

The largest commercial property sale was of a gas station at 1201 Chicago Ave. that sold for $1.025 million.

Downtown Plan Committee Seeks Community Input

By Beth Demes

The City's ad hoc committee to develop a new downtown plan held a public meeting recently to solicit community input.

The Dec. 12 meeting gave the roughly 50 community members in attendance a brief look back at the downtown's ups and downs and a progress report on the group's work, before opening for public comment.

Downtown Plan Committee members charted the central business district's course from the post-war boom as the North Shore's commercial and shopping center to the decline that began in the 1960s, escalating through the 70s and 80s with rise of Old Orchard and other malls.

In 1989, Evanston adopted a plan to regenerate the downtown's economic vitality. That plan and a new zoning ordinance in 1993 helped shape the tremendous downtown development activity over the past eight years. The plan envisioned a mix of uses, increasing residential, pedestrian and transit-oriented development in the core downtown. This vision was embraced again in Evanston's 2000 Comprehensive General Plan.

"As we've looked at some of these planned developments [in the past few years], there have been a number of people who have said, 'you've brought life back to the City,'" said Larry Widmayer, chair of the Committee and a member of the Evanston Plan Commission. "There are others who have said, 'you've ruined my old downtown.' To understand where we are going I think it's important to step back and remember where we've been," he added.

The nearly 1-year-old Committee, whose members include Plan Commission members and Evmark staff, hopes to have a final plan ready for the City Council's approval by early 2008. They have not focused to date on altering any of the uses in the 1989 plan, but have concerned themselves more with how to control the physicality of future downtown development.

The group endorses shrinking the downtown, moving the western boundary, set two years ago at Asbury Avenue, eastward to Ridge Avenue. They also have created a third type of sub-area - "traditional" - that was added to the two existing sub-area types: "transitional" (the downtown's fringes) and "downtown" (the core). The Committee mapped three traditional sub-areas built in the 1920s and 30s with the character and scale that they feel is worth preserving. The Preservation Commission is working with them in developing a planning strategy, which may include securing landmark status for these blocks.

The areas are Sherman Avenue at Grove Street; Sherman Avenue south of Clark Street; and Davis Street west of Maple Avenue.

The Committee is also exploring form-based zoning and plans to hire a consultant to test it in some pilot areas in the downtown area. Form-based zoning is a three-dimensional approach, which downplays traditional zoning controls for use and density, emphasizing instead a building's shape, mass and scale as it relates to adjacent structures and the public space. Form-based zoning produces an envelope for a building design. Communities have used it across the country, often in response to a particular development or neighborhood challenge. Evanston's west side neighborhood is presently following it.

"Form-based zoning involves more of a cooperative effort between the citizenry and government," Plan Commission and Committee member David Galloway explained in a separate interview.

That cooperative effort is one that the Committee supports. Mr. Widmayer said at the meeting that the Committee members intend to work with all of the downtown stakeholders.

Evanston resident Jean Lindwall, who worked on the 1989 downtown plan and attended the meeting, said, "The downtown is everybody's neighborhood."

Southeast Evanston residents at the meeting urged the Committee to pay attention to environmental concerns such as noise and air pollution, green space and bicycle safety.

Some residents of new downtown high-rises said that they do not feel part of a community.

"I've been living here for three years and have never received a survey and have never been invited to an aldermanic meeting," said a resident of Optima Views. She also said if tall building development continues unabated, "Evanston may end up like the canyons at Sheridan and Hollywood [in Chicago]."

City staff said that they are updating mailing lists to include all of the newer downtown residents, because the 2000 census data on which the City relies does not include them.

Responding to another comment, Diane Williams of Evmark, the downtown planning and marketing organization, said they will be adding two residents to Evmark's board of directors, which presently only has downtown businesspersons.

There were other comments about fixing and widening the sidewalks, or at least not disrupting them as much with large tree grates and sidewalk cafes.

And there was support on both sides of the "national vs. local retailers" debate.

Others raised concerns about traffic safety and viaduct improvement. Assistant City Manager Judith Aiello said that the Chicago Transit Authority was aware of the City's priority for viaduct improvement but that it lacked funding at present for all of the projects.

Travis Marlatte, owner of The Things We Love, 614 Davis St., who said that many of his customers do not live in Evanston, suggested the Committee also examine how to attract non-Evanston customers to the downtown.

HPlanning Process Needs 'Some Sense of Urgency'

By Bill Smith

Three aldermen say Evanston's downtown planning process is moving too slowly.

At the Economic Development Committee meeting on Dec. 13, Alderman Edmund Moran, 6th Ward, said he found the public meeting held by the Plan Commission's Downtown Plan Committee Dec. 11 disappointing.

"They're talking about transition zones, but on the north end of downtown we've now just about lost on transitions," Ald. Moran said, referring to the recent approval of the 18-story Carroll Place development at 1881 Oak Ave. and the pending proposal from the same developer for a 14-story building at 1890 Maple Ave.

The Downtown Plan Committee has proposed that transitional areas at the edge of downtown should have lower building height limits than what is permitted in the core downtown area, but after nearly a year of work has yet to apply any numbers to the concept.

"Do we have a horizon on this?" Ald. Moran asked, adding, "I felt that there was really not enough to talk about" at Tuesday's meeting.

City Planning Director Dennis Marino said the Dec. 11 meeting "was meant to be a bit of a kickoff" for the planning process and that the Plan Commission hopes to be ready to make recommendations to the City Council's Planning and Development Committee by the end of 2007 or early 2008.

City staff also expects to seek City Council approval in January to hire a consultant to do a pilot study of form-based coding - a test of a new technique for rezoning the downtown area. "We need to know how to apply it on a demonstration basis to see how effectively it works," Mr. Marino said.

Alderman Melissa Wynne, 3rd Ward, suggested the Plan Commission needs to keep the Council "better informed of where this is going, so that over the next eight or nine months we don't approve things that are completely counter to what's going to be the trend from the Plan Commission.

"We're having buildings proposed in the transitional areas that are much higher than what we've seen before. It would be much easier for us to turn them away if we had this new plan in place," she added.

Ald. Moran said, "They need to get onto it. I'm not saying 'Finish in two or three months,' but there are development pressures downtown that continue. A lot can happen in a year or 18 months. This needs a pretty hands-on effort and some sense of urgency."

Alderman Elizabeth Tisdahl, 7th Ward, said she agreed that the process does not seem to be moving fast enough. She called for having a joint meeting of the aldermen with the Plan Commission about how to proceed.

Ald. Wynne said the west-side study scheduled to be submitted to the City Council in January "looks to me like a very good blueprint for the process from start to finish. If we could have a downtown plan move at that same kind of pace, that would be very helpful."

Employment Game: City Appears To Win Some, Lose Some

By Bill Smith

Evanston lost 6 percent of its private-sector jobs last year, the biggest drop for any north suburban Cook County community.

The numbers, contained in a report from the state Department of Employment Security (IDES), were distributed at an Evanston Economic Development Committee meeting Dec. 14.

The jobs report, though only recently released, compares the number of jobs in the community in March 2004 and in March 2005.

Jonathan Perman, executive director of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce, said that during that period Evanston lost as many as 1,000 jobs when both Kendall College and National Louis University moved out of the City.

In addition, he said, the Hotel Orrington closed for a year for renovations, costing the City perhaps another 300 jobs.

Unemployment
A different state report shows that unemployment among Evanston residents, which stood at 4.4 percent in Oct. 2005, had declined to 3.0 percent by this October.

The two reports cover different aspects of the economy. The jobs report looks at the number of jobs in a community, whether they are held by residents or non-residents. The unemployment numbers look only at community residents - whether they work in the town in which they live or elsewhere.

This October's Evanston's jobless number was not the lowest in the region: Highland Park and Elmhurst shared that honor at 2.3-percent. But it was lower than the 3.6-percent average for Illinois and the 4.1-percent average for the nation.

Remembering a Leader of Young Women.

Story by Ivy Sundell, Special to the RoundTable

Alice Mather Field so touched the lives of her Girl Scout troop that, 30 years after their middle-school and high school years, members of the troop honored her memory with a gift to the present troop.

Knowing that high-school-aged youngsters can easily be led astray while hanging out with and striving to be accepted by their peers, Ms. Mather led her troop into so many adventures that they would be ever eagerly looking forward to more.

After Ms. Mather's death, 14 of her former Senior Troop members - now ranging in age from 47 to 53 - donated $1,500 to the current Evanston Girl Scouts in her memory and in honor of her two co-leaders, Marguerite Geisert and Ann Stephens. The funds will be used to purchase camping equipment. At a recent Evanston Girl Scout leader meeting, Ms. Geisert stood holding her cane and reminisced about monthly camping and biking, as well as weekly canoeing in the summers. She recounted trips to London, Mexico, Niagara Falls and the Appalachian Mountains.

Julia Weertman, who spearheaded the collection, said she felt that Ms. Mather was their shepherd. Ms. Weertman continues her service to the community. A member of Rainbow Animal Assisted Therapy, she and her two dogs help special education students and hospital patients. She has also raised money for Chicago and Evanston police dogs to have bullet- and stab-resistant vests.

Laura Silver-Stone spoke of the "profound impact" Ms. Mather made on her life. She remembered fondly the guitar-playing and singing around the campfires, the quilting and service projects they did. Ms. Silver-Stone now co-leads a troop of girls at the United Methodist Church with Eva Sue Schwinge and Sam Sibley, even though none of them currently has a child in scouts.

Pictured with the Senior Girl Scouts of Evanston today are (from left) Liz Fitzsimonds, Cathie Jaselskis Alberts, Nora Marino, Helen Kriz Marshall, Marguerite Geisert, Cathy Geisert Moriarty, Julia Weertman, Jenny Federer, Sue Hufford, Laura Silver-Stone, and Leora Guadalupe.

Peace Coalition to Mark War Milestone

On the day after the 3,000th American military death in Iraq, the North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice will hold a candlelight vigil and peace rally. Current plans are to gather at 6:30 p.m. at the corner of Church Street and Ridge Avenue on the day after the announcement. Participants will march to Fountain Square and hold a 15-minute silent vigil to be followed by singing peace songs.