Dogma Opens on Greenwood Street.

1908 Greenwood St., is Evanston's newest dog daycare facility. Located in a former warehouse just north of Dempster Street, Dogma offers "competitive rates and an ideal location that features a huge 3,500- square-foot indoor facility complete with rubber floors and agility equipment, and 4,000 additional square feet of enclosed outdoor play space," says owner Becky Anno. Ms. Anno has nine years of professional experience working with dogs and a master's degree in animal behavior from the University of Michigan. She is currently working towards a Ph.D. in psychology focusing on canine personality and social behavior.

"The benefits that dogs receive from the exercise and socialization they get at daycare are invaluable," says Ms. Anno. "We are dedicated to the health and well-being of our clients and provide a fun, safe and stimulating environment for dogs of all shapes, sizes and ages. The result is an improvement of the quality of life for dogs and their people."

Dogs can spend the day at Dogma, she says, running and playing with their doggy pals and burning off excess energy, rather than sitting lonely and restless at home, where they may develop unwanted behaviors as a result of stress and/or pent-up energy including separation anxiety, destructive chewing, general disobedience and fear of unfamiliar dogs and people.

Ms. Anno says a complimentary day of dog daycare is offered to all new clients. Call 847-864-DOGS (3647) or visit Dogma's website at www.dogma-evanston.com.
Photos by Chris Cascarano

Central Street Plan Goes to Plan Commission

By Mary Helt Gavin

(See additional zoning plans here: East and West in PDF format.)

The Central Street Plan would widen the sidewalks west of Lincolnwood Avenue, to help soften the massiveness of built-to-sidewalk construction.

From the west, the plan would replace Hot Dog Island with public art or green space, and at the east, a parking deck and a hotel or office building would flank Northwestern University's Ryan Field.

At a three-hour meeting on April 12, the City's Plan Commission, its Planning and Development Committee and representatives of the Lakota group, who served as consultants on the project, went over a plan to "sustain and enhance" Central Street between approximately Crawford Avenue and the canal.

The plan addresses both public and private properties - the street, alleys, sidewalks and curbs, Independence Park, Northwestern University's Ryan Field and its environs, and the many small independent shops located for the most part in one- and two-story buildings there.

Central Street east and west
The area is beloved by residents for its pedestrian-friendly shopping districts, the North Branch Library, access to Metra and CTA trains and the annual Fourth of July parade.

The phrase "sustain and enhance" was carefully chosen, one speaker noted during public comment, because for the most part Central Street is a thriving sector of the City, the consultants said.

Nonetheless the several weeks of scrutiny in four public meetings - as well as countless staff hours at the City and volunteer hours by area residents who recently coalesced into the Central Street Neighbors Association (CSNA) - revealed many places that could use a lift. One example is the commercial cluster that forms the northwesterly gateway to Evanston: the small Hot Dog Island, a CVS Pharmacy, a strip mall, a gas station, a restaurant and a lawn-equipment store.

The visioning process was intended to come up with a plan for the growth of the area that would be compatible with the City's Comprehensive General Plan.

"We're all really proud of Central Street," said Dennis Marion, assistant director of community development for the City, "but we know it can be better. One of the ways it could be better is to have a master plan."

The plan, as conceived so far, would be a "footprint" for the area, said Mr. Marino - more than a guideline but not wholly inflexible. "When a developer comes, we can point to the plan and say, ‘This is what we want.'"

Zoning
The City's part in the plan comes in substantial upgrades to the streetscape and Independence Park. Passive enjoyment of Independence Park, for example, could be enhanced by the addition of more benches or a gazebo. Also, because Central Street is wider west of Lincolnwood Avenue, the City could widen the sidewalks there to help ease the massive effect of buildings constructed up to the sidewalk a few years ago, in according with zoning rules in place at that time.

A second aspect of City participation would include zoning changes affecting new developments or renovations in the area. The plan makes specific proposals about rezoning certain areas and reducing the height limit for new or rehabbed construction, both residential and commercial. Increases in setbacks and mandates for wider, clear, paved alleys are also proposed. For example, the proposed maximum height for R5 (multifamily) residential property west of Green Bay Road would be reduced from five stories to four stories.

Parts of the business district at the Central/Green Bay intersection would be rezoned from either B2 (business) or O1 (office) to B1a, with both front and side setbacks increased. One proposal, though, would keep a more intensely commercial zoning, C1, at the southwest corner of the intersection.

Although the zoning ordinance states that both B2 and the B1a districts target neighborhood shopping areas with "continuous storefronts" of fewer than 20,000 square feet, the B2 districts are typically located along the busier "arterial streets." C1 zoning is for commercial strips with large parking areas and multiple tenants, according to the ordinance.

Form-based zoning - under which guidelines are proposed for a section or "envelope" of property - was one of the suggestions for the western part of the street. Form-based zoning would allow greater height in some buildings if the successive stories were recessed or "stepped back" from the first floor.

All these changes are aimed at keeping height and density as low as possible, said John Lamont of the Lakota Group.

Private developers
There are a few developments in various states of incipience or completion in the area, including the renovation of the former Central Street movie theaters. The plan suggests that buildings along Green Bay Road north and south of Central Street may be ripe for redevelopment as mixed-use buildings in some cases taller than the existing ones.

For example, were there to be a new building on the northwest corner of Green Bay Road and Central Street, it could have a wide plaza in front, if the two steps up from the street were eliminated, said Mr. Lamont. South of that intersection, the plan sees a building replacing Chase Bank and its parking lot, with three stories facing Central Street and four stories facing Harrison Street. The plan also suggests ways to accessorize the street - with cornices, cupolas, parapets, et cetera, to give variation and interest to the storefronts.

Northwestern University
The wish list for the University-owned property - Ryan Field and its surrounding parking lots - involves enhancing the area in front of the stadium with trees, grass and other landscape architecture. On the east side of the stadium, a four-story hotel or office building would occupy what is now for the most part a parking lot, and, on the west side, a three-story parking deck would replace the surface lot, perhaps offsetting the loss of parking from the east-side building.

Although Northwestern would be one of the big players in the redevelopment of the eastern section, it did not participate in the planning sessions, which were open to the public. Alan Cubbage, vice president for University relations, told the RoundTable, "[University officials] Eugene Sunshine and Ron Naylor met with City Manager Julia Carroll a couple of weeks ago and saw the plan." He added that the hotel on the eastern parking lot was "news" and "was a non-starter," because the University needs all its surface lots for parking, either for its own purposes or for leasing to the City and to Evanston Hospital. He did not comment on whether the proposed three-story parking deck would sufficiently offset parking lost to a hotel or office building near Ryan Field. Nor did he say whether the University would be amenable to sprucing up the front of the stadium.

Questions, comments and omissions
While most of the comments from the public, the aldermen and the Plan Commission members were positive, some questions remained unanswered, and some issues as yet unaddressed: planned developments, sustainability and attractiveness to developers.

Plan Commission member Dave Galloway, echoing a question from one of the residents, asked whether a development larger than 25 units - which would trigger the planned-development process - could be used to evade the plan, once it is approved by City Council. That is, he said, since planned developments involve tradeoffs with the City - for the most part in height or density - the City could approve a planned development for the area that would be higher, denser or more massive than called for by the plan. Moreover, under the City's inclusionary zoning ordinance, residential developments with fewer than 25 units will not have to dedicate any as affordable.

Jeff Smith, head of the Central Street Neighbors Association, noted that the plan had a lot of commitment to greening - such as adding trees and landscaping - but did not address sustainability. He also said CSNA felt very positive about many of the suggestions but thought during the review process several particulars would bear greater scrutiny.

As to sustainability, the City has promised. that its newest fire station, replacing the one in the 2800 block of Central Street area, will be LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) as a green building.

Finally, the question appeared to hang as to whether the down-zoning and scaling back would in fact attract developers. Conversely, several residents and planners have noted that increases in rent in new and renovated buildings may have the effect of driving out the independent stores in the area.

Aldermen Edmund Moran, 6th Ward, and Elizabeth Tisdahl, 7th Ward, each said they were pleased with the process and the outcome, thanking the residents who "hung in there for all five meetings."

The Plan Commission will take up review and discussion of the plan, possibly as early as June.