Update on Northwestern subdivision proposal

At the March 4th meeting of the Evanston Historic Preservation Commission, Northwestern presented a revised proposal for the subdivision of its East Campus.  The revised proposal somewhat enlarged the lots that surround landmarked buildings.  These lots would remain under the purview of the Commission.  In addition, it proposed to “share future designs” for buildings in Lot 1 along Sheridan Road.  Lot 1 covers the remainder of the East Campus, excluding the lots containing landmarked buildings. 

City Staff had submitted a memo recommending acceptance of this proposal with two conditions:  (1) that one of the lots (Lot 4) be enlarged, and (2) that the area for sharing design information in Lot 1 be a 200’ strip along Sheridan Road.  The staff memo said that, in this strip, the Commission could provide “feedback” to Northwestern about proposed designs.

The revised proposal and the city staff's response are available on the city's website. 

However, at the start of the meeting, staff requested a postponement of the Commission’s vote on the proposal until the Commission’s next meeting so that staff could conduct further discussions with Northwestern and provide an updated recommendation to the Commission.  The Commission and Northwestern agreed to the postponement.  The Commission’s vote is based on the compliance of the proposal to a set of standards articulated in Evanston City Code Title 2, Chapter 8, Section 12.  This vote is advisory to the City Council which makes the actual decision on whether to accept the proposal.  

During the discussion, Commissioners expressed concern about the relatively small size of the 200’ strip and whether the ability to provide “feedback” was meaningful.  Commissioners also suggested further revisions to some of the Lot outlines.

SEA was present at the meeting and made a brief statement regarding the revised proposal, acknowledging that it was an improvement, but that it needed further improvement.  We expressed concerns similar to those of the Commissioners.  We recommended that the City and Northwestern continue their negotiations with a view toward further improving the proposal.  This appeared also to be thinking of the Commission and City Staff.

SEA Opposes Northwestern’s Subdivision Proposal

Northwestern University has submitted a proposal to the Evanston Preservation Commission to subdivide its campus east of Sheridan Road into several lots.  Most of these lots would tightly surround landmarked buildings.  A single lot would contain everything else.  The purpose of this proposal appears to be to remove the construction/demolition/modification of buildings on most of the east campus from the oversight of the Preservation Commission, including the majority of the Sheridan Road streetscape along the campus. 

SEA has delivered a letter to the Preservation Commission opposing this proposal.

The Preservation Commission will vote on this proposal at its meeting on Wednesday, March 4th, 7pm in the Council Chambers at the Civic Center.  There will be an opportunity for citizen comment.  SEA will speak on the subject, and if you have an opinion you want to share with the Commission, please think about attending the meeting. 

If the Preservation Commission disapproves Northwestern’s proposal, Northwestern may appeal this decision to the City Council at one of its regular meetings, possibly as early as Monday, March 9th.  If this happens, it will present another opportunity for SEA and individual citizens to express their opinions on the proposal.   

Spend Monday night with Boltwood and Sketchbook Brewing

Hidden in an Evanston alley on Chicago Avenue is the orange door to Evanston’s new nano brewery, Sketchbook. After raising money from more than 250 Kickstarter supporters in the spring, the community-supported brewery opened to the public in late November. Sketchbook invites guests to tastings and growler fills to its customers in an attempt to create a new speakeasy culture in Evanston.

Sketchbook founders Shawn Decker and Cesar Marron

“They don’t really care that we’re a little hard to find, and they seem to be happy to come to our neighborhood,” said co-owner Cesar Marron.

Marron and co-owner Shawn Decker are the principal owners of the brewery, managing a brewery on top of regular day-jobs but still keeping the shop open 4 days a week.

 

In addition to their walk-in offerings, Marron and Decker have worked with more than 10 local restaurants to pair beers with their menus. This Monday night, Sketchbook will be partnering with Boltwood for a prix fixe “Beer Dinner” menu featuring four Sketchbook beer pairings. The event, which will cost $55 per person, has been in the works for about two months, according to Marron.

“They wanted from the beginning to do a beer dinner,” Marron said.

The first collaboration with Boltwood happened before the restaurant even opened. Marron knew the owner and knew both would be opening their businesses around the same time, so the two got together and discussed potential partnerships. For one of Boltwood’s private dinners before its opening, Sketchbook provided the pairing beers.

Marron said he’d look forward to similar partnerships in the future, stressing the importance of staying local and supporting local businesses.

“That’s what we’re hoping to do more of, partner up with chefs around town and promote the local [business],” Marron said. “It’s not just about having a unique product that tastes a certain way.”

Finding better solutions to sidewalk snow-removal

No one likes to shovel snow off the sidewalk, but it’s more than just tedious—it’s dangerous. In addition to the increased exposure to the cold, which can lead to frostbite, trench foot, and even hypothermia, a recent study links snow-shoveling to a larger chance of heart attack. Still, city snow-removal policies do not cover sidewalks.

A city snow plow hard at work at the Davis St. El during the February 15 snow storm

While the Public Works department has taken great measures to ensuring city streets are clean – even inaugurating a new anti-icing mixture this season – sidewalks are still left up to property owners and landlords. Some argue that policies like this are inefficient and put an unnecessary burden on homeowners, but the city government says that its resources are better used elsewhere.

“All of our staff are working on cleaning streets and parking lots,” said Martha Logan, Community Engagement Manager for the City of Evanston. “It would not be timely if we took our current staff and tried to do private sidewalks.”

But the problem with do-it-yourself policies is that not everyone complies. After the major snowstorm earlier this month, 24 properties received tickets for not shoveling their walks, the average bill being about $190.

Logan says that the City takes many steps to encourage shoveling, though. For example, 196 properties received door hangers that reminded residents to shovel, and 56 properties received notices that gave a 24-hour limit to shovel before a ticket would be issued.

Of course, taking individual responsibility for shoveling sidewalks is not always physically possible. To accommodate these homeowners, the City has a Senior & Disabled Persons Snow Shoveling program where volunteers can sign up to help residents who are unable to shovel. According to Logan, the last snowstorm had 92 people requesting volunteers and 74 people volunteered to help.

Homeowners in other areas have taken the initiative to find a better sidewalk shoveling system. This winter, residents from Ann Arbor teamed up to tackle snowfall together through SnowBuddy. Run completely on donations, SnowBuddy is a nonprofit removes snow from local neighborhoods. The group has received raving reviews for its crowdsourcing approach to removing snow.

While Evanston doesn’t have a group like SnowBuddy (yet), the City has taken more steps to making streets more accessible. Last year in January, the City Council approved a resolution that adopted policies from the National Complete Streets Coalition. The focus of complete streets policies is to make sustainable forms of transportation more accessible by making roads pedestrian- and bike-friendly. Snow isn’t at the forefront of these policies, but the resolution also focuses on the ease of use by the public. And after dealing with Evanston winters for quite some time, we all know that successfully removing snow is inherent in having clean, safe easy-to-use roads.

Help Shape the Redesign of Baker Park

Alderman Melissa Wynne (3rd Ward) is encouraging SE Evanston neighbors to participate in finalizing the redesign of Baker Park (at Keeney Street between Forest and Michigan Avenues) by completing a short online survey conducted by the City’s Public Works Dept. Information is also available by calling Senior Project Manager Stefanie Levine at 847-448-8043. To learn more, you can read the presentation from the city's most recent public meeting about the park redesign.

You can complete the survey here.

Baker park. Image by City of Evanston Public Works.