In February 2025 the City of Evanston released a new draft of the Envision Evanston 2045 Comprehensive Plan, intended to reflect a shared vision for Evanston’s future and strategies for achieving it. See the
September,
November, and
February issues of the Intercom for some background. You can also read the new and old drafts and learn more about goals and processes on the
Envision Evanston 2045 website.
The revised version of the plan differs in several key ways from the November 2024 draft, including changes consistent with feedback submitted by the LWVE in January. For example:
- A new chapter called Health and Wellbeing was added. It highlights ways in which health is interconnected with environmental, economic, and social factors, in line with LWVE comments about interrelationships.
- Another new chapter, Implementation, addresses the need to regularly assess whether implemented actions are achieving desired objectives--and the possibility of modifying programs if they result in undesirable consequences or circumstances have changed.
- The chapter on Parks and Open Space (now Parks, Recreation, and Open Space) has been expanded to include more open public areas and more ways that these can benefit Evanstonians.
- More data have been included to support the depiction of Evanston in 2025, to show how it compares to other communities, and to serve as a baseline to which future data can be compared.
The LWVE Local Program group on Envision Evanston studied the revised draft, met to discuss their reactions and priorities, and prepared a response. After approval by the LWVE Executive Committee, the response was submitted to relevant City committees and officials as part of the public feedback process. The Local Program group expressed appreciation for efforts to incorporate citizen feedback. They then emphasized that this 20-year plan should not be adopted and then filed away, but rather used in future planning and reviewed regularly. They also offered suggestions for enhancing the usefulness of the Comprehensive Plan as a reference document and for facilitating regular review. These are some of their suggestions:
- Clarify the meaning of some terms, such as “affordable housing.”
- Add a Ward Map and add Foster School, with an indication that it is under construction, to the School Map in order to provide clearer information on Evanston in 2025.
- Include a list of other plans and ordinances, whether in effect or under development, that are relevant for each chapter in the Comprehensive Plan.
- Expand the chapter on Implementation with additional information on who will conduct assessments, what metrics will be used, and what actions might follow.