There has been a good deal of conversation and reporting recently on Envision Evanston 2045, a new comprehensive plan and revised zoning code. Here are the core elements of the discussion:
- Envision Evanston 2045 was a year-long, community-driven process intended to lead to a new comprehensive plan and zoning code. From land use to racial justice to affordable housing, this initiative aims to reflect a shared vision for the future of Evanston.
- A comprehensive plan outlines a city’s vision for its future and includes goals and strategies to help achieve that vision. Evanston’s current comprehensive plan was approved in 2000.
- A zoning code is the set of regulations that outline how properties can be used and what can be built on them. It is a major tool that helps achieve the vision and goals of the comprehensive plan. Evanston’s current zoning code was approved in 1993.
So, who is involved in creating these new plans? It’s a big project, so there are many contributors:
- Community members
- Boards, committees and commissions
- Evanston City Council
- City of Evanston staff
- Consultant team, consisting of HDR Inc, Morreale Communications, ZoneCo, McAdams, Multilingual Connections, and ViewPro
The plan suggests that 20 years from now the city will have managed to foster a healthy community, strengthen the local economy, prioritize environmental sustainability, invest in transportation options, increase housing diversity, celebrate arts and culture and create equitable opportunities for all. The practical impact of the proposal will be hard to analyze until the proposed new zoning code being developed in tandem with the comprehensive plan is released sometime in the coming weeks.
The
Evanston RoundTable reported that “since the initiative’s launch in February, city staff and consultants have collected public input through ward meetings, committee meetings, workshops, focus group sessions and other outreach efforts, gradually narrowing their questions from the broad strokes of how Evanston should look in 2045 to the specific nuts-and-bolts policies that should (or should not) be implemented. The 118-page
draft is rooted in land use and zoning but also weaves in virtually every policy area the city deals with.” The city has now released the draft zoning map and draft zoning districts chapter of the code.
Different aspects of the plan are connected to eight "strategy" areas, which act as the document’s organizational units as it delves into specifics. Among these eight strategies, the plan identifies 71 policy goals the city should pursue over the next 20 years, and 294 specific action items to help achieve them. These strategy areas include land use, transportation, parks and open spaces, environment, economic development, housing, art and culture, and preservation.
According to the
Evanston RoundTable, central to the plan is the adoption of a "centers and corridors" approach to land use across Evanston, “which would see higher-density development focused into designated areas that serve as hubs for economic, social, and cultural activities that are connected by similarly developed transportation routes, especially ones with mass transit and active transportation like bike lanes and pedestrian improvements.”
The plan promotes these targeted development strategies as helping the city pursue a variety of goals, but one of the largest and most foundational is to create greater housing stock and variety for a growing population over the next 20 years. While embracing and directing this growth are included in this, the plan states that the growth itself is less a goal and more a reality as data from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning indicate that Evanston is projected to have a population of over 84,000 by 2045, up from 75,000 today.
Land use commissioners are scheduled to wrap up hearings on both the plan and code by mid-January 2025, ending with motions to add any amendments they deem appropriate and final recommendation votes on both documents. After that, City Council will begin its own consideration, with two affirmative votes on each needed to adopt both items.
Final adoption of both the code and plan is targeted to happen by the end of March 2025. This deadline would be before the next city elections on April 1.
How will the League respond to the comprehensive plan and zoning code revisions? Monitoring this process is part of our
2024-2025 local program. A working group has been formed and it’s not too late for members to join the effort. The working group will review and discuss the draft plans and determine what feedback or advocacy, if any, the League will engage in toward the successful adoption of a new comprehensive plan and revised zoning code. If you are interested in participating in the working group, contact
Betty Hayford or
Sue Calder.