Tower Talks Begin Tonight

By Mary Helt Gavin

Developer James Klutznick and local architect John Macsai discuss the proposed tower at an informal meeting on Aug. 1

The third item on tonight's agenda of the City's Plan Commission is one on many people's minds these days: the 49-story mixed-use tower proposed for downtown Evanston.

Developers James Klutznick, Morey Fisher and Tim Anderson, who developed Sherman Plaza - just across the street from the proposed tower - have purchased the property along the south side of Church Street between Sherman and Orrington avenues. They propose to build two stories of retail, topped by three stories of parking. On top of that and set back somewhat from the stories below would be 44 stories of residences, including 12 stories of penthouses. Prices would range from the "high $200,000-range for one-bedroom apartments to about $2 million for the penthouses," the developers said.

First Ward Alderman Cheryl Wollin held a "meet and greet" on Aug. 1 in the Civic Center, inviting residents to meet and ask questions of the developers and the architect, Lawrence Booth of Booth Hansen.

The tower
The developers have added little if anything new to the proposal they presented to members of the press in April but have fleshed out some of the details. The 523-foot-tall building would be LEED-certified, Mr. Booth said. LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a national standard for assessing a building's environmental performance, sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Among the aspects that would contribute to the certification are the green roof proposed for the top floor of the parking area, energy-efficient windows and appliances, and the closeness to public transportation.

The commercial space would be rented to retail stores that for the most part would be regional or national chains, said Mr. Klutznick. He added, in response to a question from the audience, that no office space was planned for the building. "There is plenty of Class B  [smaller, with fewer amenities] office space in the area," he said. Some of the independent stores on the block have said they might have to relocate because rent in the new space would be prohibitively high, and the developers have said they would help them relocate, but not necessarily subsidize any move.

Financial support for the retail component would come from the residential, said Tim Anderson of Focus Development. "The residential allows us to do the development," he said.

The target market for the condos consists of "move-down [downsizing] buyers and young professionals," Mr. Anderson added "- the kind that strengthen the tax base without draining the services of the City."

He said, however, the high cost of the property and his development would make the condos so expensive as to preclude their constructing affordable housing units in the development. Instead, he said, the developers plan to contribute to the City's affordable-housing fund. At present, a City ordinance mandates that developers either set aside 10 percent of the residential units as affordable or pay $40,000 per unit (for about 22 units) into the City's affordable housing fund - more than $800,000.

The height question
At nearly 500 feet, the tower would rise above the Sherman Plaza, Optima Views and the Chase Bank building, which flank it, as well as the Grosse Point lighthouse at the lakefront.

"This will be an elegant residential building that is visually light," said architect Mr. Booth. "It will combine an intimate pedestrian experience with high density. ...We didn't set out to build a really tall building but to build the elegant building that was the best solution for Evanston." He added, however, the development needed a density of 218 units in order to succeed financially, and "we felt the setback [with added height] was a better tradeoff [than 35 stories without a setback.]"  

Echoing comments made by the City's consultants during the downtown planning process, Mr. Anderson emphasized the pedestrian experience. Height, in their opinion, should be judged from the feeling one gets from walking in the area. According to this theory, height that is "hidden" or set back from the lot line, will not result in a canyon effect. Height thus becomes "irrelevant" if it is not oppressive to the pedestrian experience.

Ned Bilandic, a retired structural engineer, told the RoundTable he did not believe that a tower of this height that was set back from the street would create problems such as wind tunnels at the street levels.

Retired architect John Macsai, a member of the professional design group Design Evanston, said he believed the tower is "elegant" and would fit nicely in the center of downtown, "in accordance with the City's wedding-cake design [highest in the center, with gradually decreasing building heights] for downtown."  As an independent contractor, Mr. Macsai writes architecture critiques for the RoundTable.

Of the nearly 50 residents who attended the Aug. 1 meeting, most did not share the optimism about and enthusiasm for the height.

Jeanne Lindwall said she could already see the Optima Towers building from the Noyes Street CTA tracks and did not wish to see other tall buildings in the skyline.

Sheldon Lutte said he hoped the City would investigate what other cities are doing. "I wish Evanston was shopping for a skyline rather than being shopped by a developer. I feel like our developer has presented the design that is least expensive for him to build. He seems to be selling a "box of taxpayers" rather than an addition to our Evanston heritage. We're just a few miles from one of the most architecturally significant cities in the world. We should be able to do this and build something wonderful."

Parking, "pipeline" and Fountain Square
Residents had questions and concerns about other aspects of the proposed development: whether the development would provide sufficient parking, why this proposal had been excluded from a recent moratorium on downtown development and what contribution the developers would make toward the rehab of Fountain Square. There were also some concerns that this new development not repeat certain aspects of Sherman Plaza.

Although the proposal includes parking spaces for the residential component, the developers said they believed the Sherman Avenue parking garage, which they completed across the street last year, would handle additional parking needs generated by their new retail stores.

John Kennedy asked, "Why was this building not a part of the [recent] downtown charrette? The impact is huge."

Ald. Wollin said the building still addresses the pedestrian experience and form-based zoning. These two principles have been endorsed by some planners and designers for the new downtown plan.

This proposal, as well as two others for downtown high-rise developments (one of which has been withdrawn), were exempted from a recent moratorium enacted by City Council with respect to new construction in the downtown area. The City has traditionally exempted property from moratoria if a zoning application was "in the pipeline," that is, if the owners of the property had vested rights in the original zoning. The developers had applied for zoning variances - asking for additional height and other relief - before Council discussed and approved the moratorium.

Ald. Wollin said, "The City attorney said we could change the definition of vested rights but there were not enough votes at the City Council to change that. Maybe aldermen felt that it would be unfair [to change the definition]."

A current resident of Sherman Plaza said he was concerned about the high percentage of rentals in the development there. He asked whether it would be possible to limit the number of rentals in the new development. Mr. Anderson said one rental in Sherman Plaza was the result of a Winnetka couple's inability to sell their present home.

Responding to a question from Mary Brugliera, Mr. Anderson said he thought the main contribution this development would make to the community was to enable the City to rehab Fountain Square.

All of the Fountain Square block lies within the Washington National tax-increment financing (TIF) district, which is set to expire in 2018. Until that time, the City may use the tax increment generated on the property - the differential between the taxes generated on the property as improved and as unimproved - to finance pubic works on that property. Mr. Anderson said their estimates are that the property, as improved per their plan, would generate a TIF increment of $3 million per year, which, he said, they believe would be sufficient for the City to rehab Fountain Square. 

The Plan Commission meeting begins at 7 p.m. tonight in City Council chambers. It is expected that more than one session will be needed before the members vote on the proposal. After the Plan Commission votes, the proposal will be forwarded to the Planning and Development Committee of City Council, and finally to Council itself, which will have the ultimate say.

Coming Full Circle to Fountain Square

A Look at the City's 1917 Downtown Plan

By Bill Smith

Fountain Square in the late 1800s.   Photo from Evanston Photographic Studios

While City consultants and residents busily sketch out ideas for improving downtown Evanston this summer, the City's first downtown plan sits on a shelf in the public library, harboring between its covers some of the same ideas people are talking about today.

Downtown parks 
Folks who want to blow away everything on the Fountain Square block and replace it with a park - just pikers. Ninety years ago the authors of the Plan of Evanston were talking about doing that, plus ripping down much of what is now Sherman Plaza and opening up a clear vista from Orrington Avenue to the Metra tracks.

Their proposed public mall would have been framed on its Sherman Avenue frontage by what was then City Hall on the southeast corner of the block and what was then the post office on the northeast corner. 

What stood in their way?
There was the little matter of money. The planners, who included the namesake son of famous architect Daniel Burnham, estimated their downtown park plan would cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars just to acquire the land, back at a time when the assessed value of the whole town was about $12 million.

And - does this sound familiar? Back then the Fountain Square block was owned by Northwestern University. The planners thought it would be a swell gesture if the University would just deed the land over to the City.

"It is just as important for this great educational institution to have a dignified entrance to Evanston as it is to the residents of the City," said the planners, turning on the charm. The gift, they said, "would confer an everlasting benefit on the entire City."

The University, which had left the north end of the block open for what was then called Commercial Park, apparently did not take too well to the plan, because by a decade or so later the park had been turned into the 708 Church St. building - now the proposed site for a 49-story condo tower. 

By the way, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that $250,000 in 1917 is the equivalent of a little over $4 million today - about what public records say the mortgage is on the Fountain Square Building that today's planners would like to see torn down to expand the Fountain Square plaza.

Of course no one can be a reformer without decrying the way things are today.

In 1917 the planners described downtown as "mean, inadequate, and utterly unworthy of a city of the size and importance of Evanston."

Parking 
While they did not complain about wind-tunnel effects, they were already worried about parking.

They suggested that around the entire boundary of the new park on the Fountain Square block "would be a parking space for automobiles, large enough to hold all of the cars which now encumber Davis Street, thereby giving to Evanston the unique distinction of having solved the problem of parking automobiles in a business district."

The arts
Some sketches for the new downtown plan talk about creating a performing arts center.

They were thinking big about that in 1917 as well.

The City's first plan calls for an auditorium on what was then the site of Haven School and later became the Marshall Field's store.

And they proposed an art museum on the block now dominated by the Hotel Orrington.

Tax revenue, anyone?
If the 1917 planners had gotten their way, perhaps three-quarters of the land in the eight blocks or so they thought of as the City's core would have been devoted to tax-exempt activities. (The old Carnegie public library was already on the site of Evanston's current library, and the planners penciled in fire and police stations on Orrington Avenue across from their monumental fountain and just north of what was then the YMCA.)

While the City Council eventually adopted the plan in 1919, little of what the planners called for was ever implemented.

The planners looked beyond downtown, and they did score at least one victory. Their call for a roadway along the North Shore Channel to relieve traffic congestion became the McCormick Boulevard used today.

The cost of planning
Back in 1917 the planners - all citizen volunteers - said they had spent "several hundred dollars," all donated by local residents, to put together their plan.

If the costs had totalled $500, that would be just over $8,000 in 2007 dollars - about 3 percent of what the City's consultants are earning for this year's study.

Stronger Ethics Ordinance in Place

By Joe Linstroth

On July 19 City Council members unanimously approved amendments to the City's code of ethics that strengthen the "conflict of interest" portions of the code. Appointed and elected officials must still recuse themselves from voting on matters in which they have a personal interest.  The new sections add a prohibition against informal lobbying and a mandated one-year "cooling off" period before a former City official is able represent private interests in matters with the City. However, while the ordinance clarified acceptable and unacceptable conduct, it is still somewhat hazy on sanctions for violations.

Sixth Ward Alderman Edmund Moran, who felt that merely abstaining from voting on a matter where there was a conflict was not enough, instigated these changes.

"Part of my motivation was to try to close a potentialloophole by making it explicitly clear that if a person was in a conflict of interest position, they had to be completely hands off," he said.  "No informal lobbying or campaigning, even though they were going to recuse themselves."

He said the City's Board of Ethics conducted research projects "to pull down analogous ordinances and statutes-municipal, federal and County -- to develop a best-practices approach."

"We worked that whole section - spent at least a year," said Ruth Lipschutz, a five-year member of the Board of Ethics, the body responsible for researching and drafting the changes to the Code of Ethics. "It was a very detailed and very involved process," she said.

Another significant change was the insertion of a one-year "cooling off period."

"What we found from other cities -- to have a periodwhere you can't come back right away is the norm,"said Ms. Lipschutz.  "It's the federal norm and also [the norm] in other communities."

Indeed on Aug. 2 the U.S. Senate passed ethics changes of its own, which included increasing the ban on direct lobbying by former senators from one year to two.  The measure also maintained a one-year ban on direct lobbying for former House members. 

Ald. Moran said the Board considered two-year and 18-month bans for Evanston officials, before settling on one year. 

Robert Romaine, a former alderman and a three-year member of the Board of Ethics, said, "[The cooling off period is a] very reasonable item to put in an ethics ordinance."

But Fourth Ward Alderman Steven Bernstein questioned whether such a restriction was reasonable.

"A year is kind of an illusory time," he said. "The reality is, if you had inside information, and you were an alderman, you should be precluded forever."
 
 "Why just one year?" he said.  "Why not four years, when the whole complexion of the Council changes?"

Ald. Bernstein also expressed concern that the ban might prevent someone from making a living.

"To me, everything is case by case," he said. "I don't think anybody on the Council is out to better themselves financially. We are all trying to do the right thing." 

Ald. Bernstein also felt that people with knowledge of how the City's government works help streamline the system.  "It helps the system if somebody knows the system," he said.  "I don't see a problem with somebody knowing a colleague.  I think we can get through the trash much easier."

But, he added, "If anyone else on the Council doesn't have a problem [with the changes], then I don't."

Alderman Cheryl Wollin, 1st Ward, felt the "cooling off period" would not affect someone's right to earn a living.  "I don't think it's a good argument," she said. "A year is not a very long time." 

The Board of Ethics also added definitions for "family" and "personal interest," including the insertion of "domestic partner" for clarification.

"Personal interest [was] a term that needed to be more specifically defined," said Ald. Moran. 

Other subsections were reworded to clarify restrictions in the code in order to protect elected officials from unwarranted complaints.  For example, under the subsection "Personal Interest in Legislation," wording was added to ensure that an elected official may still vote on legislation if "...the elected official's benefit or interest is similar to the average member of the public."

The rewording addresses a specific complaint brought to the Board against Ald. Wollin last September, in which it was alleged she violated the Code of Ethics by voting on a measure to pave an alley behind the condominium building in which she resides.  The rewording clarifies the Board's decision that Ald. Wollin did not act improperly by voting to approve the measure.

"I strongly feel that there was nothing wrong with the original vote," Ald. Wollin said.  "It is important that an alderman can vote on issues that affect every ordinary citizen.  If you were voting on recycling bins, would an alderman not be able to vote because they are getting a recycling bin?"  

As far as whether the changes have altered the process of investigating alleged misconduct and implementing  sanctions, Ald. Moran said it "still might have to be hashed out."

But most agree the changes will enhance public trust in the City's government.

"The whole point of having an ethics code-not just a conflict of interest code-it's really in terms of building public trust - to elucidate high standards," said Ms. Lipschutz.  

Ald. Wollin concurred.  "Especially in ethics, the public's perception is important."

ComEd Gets Three-Year Franchise Extension

By Mary Helt Gavin

Electricity distributed by Commonwealth Edison will continue to buzz through the wires and cables of Evanston for the next three years, now that ComEd and the City have settled on terms for a three-year extension of the franchise.

ComEd and the City have undertaken triennial negotiations since the early 1990s, said Alderman Edmund Moran, 6th Ward, one of the members of the City's negotiating team.

In a move that soon proved foresighted, City Council almost 15 years ago decided not to renew the 35-year franchise it operated under with the electric company.

"ComEd came to us with a model [35-year] franchise agreement, which most of the [cities in] the Northwest Municipal Conference signed," said Ald. Moran. "We knew that the winds of change were blowing in the electricity area, so we said, ‘Why would we sign this?' The City then hired some crackerjack people who understood electricity and who filed a report," he added.

In March 1999, Stanley Consulting, etc., an engineering firm hired by the City, presented an analysis showing that Evanston residents had five times more power outages than an average customer in northern Illinois. According to the report, nearly half the electricity feeder lines were operating near maximum capacity, and the rest were at 50- to 75-percent capacity. Having feeders operate at that capacity caused problems when there was additional demand for electricity, either from additional customer use or when those lines were needed to back up outages on other feeders. (See Evanston RoundTable, March 31, 1999, page 1.)

Through the 1990s the City continued to say no to ComEd, insisting on more information and greater accountability, said Ald. Moran. He said the "dynamic" of the franchise negotiations worked well because of the public nature of the negotiations, both in Evanston and in nearby Chicago, where negotiations a few years before were tough. "There were things that needed to be said. ...  And I think ComEd understood that numerous municipalities were looking to see what they were going to do," he said.

Since then the City has demanded and, for the most part, received from ComEd quarterly reports detailing the cause and length of service interruptions, the capacity of feeders and other analyses that helped get a clearer picture of electricity service in Evanston. In exchange, the City has signed three-year extensions of the original franchise, hesitating to re-up for another 35 years.

Under this latest franchise, slated to expire on July 14, 2010, Commonwealth Edison will continue to provide electric service to the citizens of Evanston, using the City's rights of way for distribution through its underground and above-ground cables.

The company will also continue to conduct inspections, provide reports of outages and attempt to be proactive by  monitoring weather and placing advance crews in areas likely to be affected by severe weather.

Dennis Marino of the City's Community Development department, who serves as staff to the City's Energy Commission, said ComEd had pledged to "cooperate with the City" on its green-power initiative. Although most residents of Evanton purchase electricity from ComEd, the City itself buys electricity from Constellation New Energy, and 20 percent of that energy is created from renewable sources, said Facilities Manager David Cook. "This will allow the residents of Evanston to catch up to where the City is in terms of sustainability – and at probably a minimal cost," he added.

ComEd and the City also hope to work out an agreement under which the City could lease a part of the vacant land near ComEd's substation at Church Street and Brown Avenue for parking.

This franchise agreement was negotiated by the City's Electricity Franchise Negotiating Team, composed of Alderman Edmund Moran, 6th Ward (chair); Alderman Steve Bernstein, 4th Ward; Alderman Ann Rainey, 8th Ward; Joel Freeman, chair of the City's Energy Commission; William Siegfriedt, vice chair of the Energy Commission; and Dennis Marino of the City's planning department, who serves as staff to the negotiating team.

Residents Gather to Help Eliminate Poverty

By Joe Linstroth

Concerned citizens discuss solutions to poverty in Evanston.

More than 65 people attended a forum entitled "Moving from Poverty to Opportunity" at the Evanston/North Shore YWCA on July 31 to discuss issues surrounding poverty in Evanston and Northern Cook County. 

While attendees ranged from local social service providers to Evanston residents with varied economic backgrounds, the forum specifically sought the input and insight of  local residents who have experienced poverty firsthand.

"Numbers tell one story, but people tell a different story," said the forum's moderator, Doug Schenkelberg. "We want to get people's real views of what poverty is in their communities."

The discussion group is one of 26 the Mid-America Institute on Poverty (MAIP) at Heartland Alliance plans to conduct across Illinois in the next year. Among the major  goals are to frame poverty as a human rights issue and to create a statewide "Poverty Eradication Strategy," said Mr. Schenkelberg.   

The forum began with a presentation of statistics compiled by the MAIP on poverty in Illinois. According to the data, 20,000 residents live in poverty in Northern Cook County, an area extending from the Chicago border north to Lake County and west to O'Hare Airport. Eleven percent of Evanston residents are living in poverty, with the rate two or three times higher in Central West Evanston – roughly the area near the high school, Mr. Schenkelberg told the group.

The attendees broke into groups to discuss barriers to overcoming poverty and extreme poverty, the latter defined as living on an income 50 percent below the poverty line, which for a family of four amounts to less than $10,000 a year, according to the MIAP.

"Transportation is non-existent to where the jobs are," said Evanston resident Betty Esther.  She expressed concern over the negative effects the proposed cuts to Pace and CTA routes in Evanston will have on the working poor.

Others cited the lack of affordable vocational training in Evanston; apathetic local, state and federal governments; and the growth of high-priced condominiums at the expense of affordable housing. 

Vincent Gillon, executive director of Carepoint in Evanston, noted that many people living in poverty are "not able to use voting power effectively as a group."

The small groups also discussed solutions to the barriers, many of which centered around increasing political involvement.  

"I'd like to see a more active community," said Mr. Gillon.

Regarding the public transportation issues in Evanston, Ms. Esther encouraged people to call and write the legislature and recommended looking at how other communities attempted to solve similar issues. 

"Do what Colorado did, drop the bus size down," she said.

The MAIP plans to create a statewide working group from the 26 forums to develop their eradication strategy. The strategy will be a specific, measurable plan, said Mr. Schenkelberg. It will be used to encourage legislative reforms with the overall goal of reducing extreme poverty in Illinois by 50 percent in 2015.  

Mr. Schenkelberg cautions patience. "It can't be solved overnight," he said.

Committee Rejects Gang-Loitering Ordinance

By Bill Smith

At the Aug. 6 Human Services Committee meeting, aldermen rejected a proposal to adopt a "gang-loitering" ordinance modeled on a similar provision of Chicago's city code.

The measure was intended to address complaints from residents in certain neighborhoods that groups of youths loitering on street corners are intimidating residents, disturbing the peace and may be engaged in drug dealing and other criminal activity.

The ordinance would have let the police chief designate certain areas of town as hot spots of gang activity.

Then any time police officers saw at least one known gang member congregating with other people on the street in that area for what the officers reasonably believed were illicit purposes, the officers could order them to disperse.

If any members of the group failed to disperse or returned to the area within eight hours, they could face arrest and a fine of $100 to $500.

None of the aldermen on the committee seemed pleased with the ordinance. "I've got a lot of trouble with it," Alderman Elizabeth Tisdahl, 7th ward, said.

"I wrote all over it," added Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Ward.

Alderman Delores Holmes, 5th Ward, said, "I would not like to see kids labeled gang bangers just for a lack of recreational places for them to go."

Alderman Steve Bernstein, 4th Ward, said, "Groups of kids, whoever they are, might intimidate some people. I just have a lot of problems with this.... We want police to be respected and when they tell kids to disperse, have them disperse." He suggested that more police on foot patrols might be a better answer, as this had worked well in the past.

Police Chief Richard Eddington said, "This proposal was on the agenda before I got here. There doesn't seem to be a groundswell of support to do it. ... I can implement it if you want. If not, I'll find another way to address the problem."

Kristin Doll of 140 Custer St. said she is very sensitive to the issue of criminalizing innocent kids who do not have anywhere to go, but that residents "are very intimidated."

The groups of young people, she said, "smoke pot, have alcohol in their hands."

"I've been harassed for walking by, been called names I won't repeat," she said.

"I'm sure a lot of these people are not certified gang members," she added, "but they're engaging in disruptive, intimidating behavior."

Ald. Jean-Baptiste said the police department "already has laws it can enforce, such as disorderly conduct. If the young people have done these things, they ought to be arrested."

He said the ordinance would lead to "fascistic treatment" of young people. "It would create a society were every corner has a camera and we're still not able to address the issues."

"We're still a small enough community to be able to reach out to these young people who are disturbing the community with their behavior and try to change the behavior," he added.