Downtown Residents Association Current Issues

Downtown Residents Association (DRA)
Committed to Maintaining a Neighborhood Community in Downtown Evanston

Current Issues

We urge everyone to take action on the following issues. Join
DRA and contact your alderman.

DRA has taken positions on the following:

Downtown Plan

UPDATE -

New Downtown Plan - New Zoning

A City

web page

has been introduced to support the zoning

implementation of the Downtown Plan Update (adopted by

Council in Feb 2009). Anticipated to run through Spring 2010,

the effort will put the updated

Downtown Plan into action in the

form of 8 new zoning districts and will encompass all of

downtown Evanston.

A downtown zoning mailing list for people interested in the

downtown zoning implementation

process has been created.

You may subscribe to the mailing list at:

http://www.cityofevanston.

org/departments/communitydevelopment/zoning/NewDowntownPl

anNewZoning.shtml

Messages sent to this distribution list will pertain to the

downtown rezoning program, for

example: event/hearing

notifications, agendas, notifications of documents for review, etc.

The

list will not be used for any other purposes. If your property

will be directly affected by the

future implementation of the

approved downtown plan—PLEASE make sure to sign up for this

very valuable information resource. The Downtown Zoning

Implementation web page,

referenced above, has resources to

determine if your property is within the proposed areas.

Background -

The Downtown Plan Committee of the Plan Commission

lead

downtown planning process.

Residents,

businesses,

institutions,

and other property owners participated throughout

the

process

and provided their

ideas for the future of downtown

Evanston

October 2007, a

draft

downtown plan

was

prepared by Duncan

Associates and their

partners, The

Lakota Group,

180 Degrees

Design

Studio,

Goodman Williams

Group, and KLOA.

Citizens provided

comments on the

draft plan at several

Plan

Commission meetings

The

DRA presented its

position

and

ecommended changes

the

initial

draft plan at the

December

17, 2007 Plan Commission

meeting.

A revised draft plan dated November 10, 2008 was approved by

the Plan Commission and

sent to the Planning & Development

(P&D) Committee for review and approval. At a P&D

meeting on

December 4, 2008, the DRA presented its

position

on the

revised Plan

Commission-approved plan.

The draft plan was further revised by P&D and approved (6-3) by

both P&D and the City

Council at their February 9, 2009

meetings. Changes were made to create a Central Core

district

and allow greater building heights in selected zones contrary to

overwhelming public

comment made against these changes.

Aldermen voting for passage of the revised plan

included Wollin

(1st Ward), Jean-Baptiste (2nd Ward), Holmes (5th Ward),

Moran (6th Ward),

Rainey (8th Ward), and Hansen (9th Ward).

Voting against were Wynne (3rd Ward), Bernstein

(4th Ward),

and Tisdahl (7th Ward).

A copy of the revised plans can be found

here

708 Church Street - Ordinance 32-O-08 - Plan Commission Recommendation
for a Map Amendment and Planned Development

The Plan Commission has recommended the rezoning of

the

property at 708 Church Street

from the D2 Downtown

Retail Core

zoning district to the D3 Downtown Core

Development

zoning

district,

and to grant Planned

Development status for the

development on

that site of

a 49-

story residential and retail

tower,

also known as the

“Fountain Square Development.”

The

708

Church project

was

approved by the Plan Commission (4-3)

December

2007 and

was

then sent to

the Planning

and

Development

(P&D)

Committee

for

review

Citizen

comments

were heard at the P&D meeting on March

17, 2008.

At the April 8th P&D

Committee meeting, a

revised proposal

was

presented by the

developers

for a

shorter

38-story structure.

Citizen

comments were

again

heard at the P&D meeting on

May

. At that

meeting, P&D Committee members voted (5-4) to

table the current

proposal until

adoption

of the Downtown Plan

by the City Council.

This occurred on February

9, 2009

The

DRA

presented

its

position

on the

original

proposed project

the

March 1

, 2008 P&D

Committee

meeting

. Its

position

the revised

proposal

was presented

at the May 7,

2008

P&D

Committee

meeting

At a P&D Special Meeting on March 3, 2009, P&D voted (6-3) to

approve a revised 708

Klutznick-Fisher Development for 708

Church, now titled Fountain Square Development. The

plan for

this development is available

here

At the City Council Meeting on March 9, 2009, the latest Fountain

Square Development was

introduced on the agenda. In

addition, a requested amendment from the developer which

would grant an extension until 12/31/2013 to secure a building

permit was presented.

The proposal with amendments was approved (6-3) at the City

Council meeting held on March

23, 2009. All ordinance and

associated 708 Church documents can be found at the Evanston

Coalition for Responsible Development (ECRD) website

here

Special Service Area #4 (SSA #4)

Residential homeowners were mistakenly taxed on their 2007

2nd Installment Property Tax

Bills (which were due in November

2008) for SSA #4. Attempts

were

made by DRA with the

City to

get this error corrected. DRA spoke on this topic at the

February

9, 2009 City Council

meeting. Shortly thereafter, a City

Evanston press release was issued as a status update.

It can

read

here

UPDATE

...As of June 2009, refund checks have begun to be

mailed to eligible homeowners by

the City of Evanston. If you

are eligible and do not receive a check in June, please contact

the City of Evanston's Finance Department at 847-866-2934.

See the DRA

history

page for more information on SSA #4.

DRA has not taken a position on the following initiatives. If you are
interested in monitoring or participating in any of these on behalf of the
DRA, please contact us.