Chamber opposes downtown moratorium

(The Chamber of Commerce has sent the following open letter to Evanston's aldermen.)

We are writing to state our opposition to the proposed 180-day moratorium on the issuance of downtown building permits. For the last 15 years, Evanston has experienced physical growth in its downtown with significant new residential, some new retail spaces, a new hotel, numerous dining establishments, new entertainment venues, and marvelous public spaces.

Downtown Evanston has remade itself after experiencing a deterioration and movement out of Evanston when several large employers exited the city as well as landmark retailers like Marshall Fields and Wieboldts.

Evanston responded with a new zoning ordinance in 1993 and has benefited from a new demand for urban residential living – driven by:

• changes in lifestyles for mature citizens and empty-nesters
• first-time homebuyers desire to be close to Chicago
• a demand for living near mass transit
• a nationwide movement towards smaller urban living environments

By many measures, both quantitative and qualitative, Evanston’s downtown has succeeded.

We now have a critical mass of residential and visitors to drive retail, entertainment, and dining.

• Increased mass transit service.
• A movie theatre complex that annually draws over 1.2 million attendees, more than attended the entire Chicago Bulls season, including the playoffs.
• Private investments such as the Hotel Orrington and Church Street Plaza.
• Independent success stories like Chef Station, Lulu’s, Active Endeavors, and Evanston Athletic Club.

The astounding triumphs of downtown Evanston occurred not by accident but through an enviable partnership between the private and public sector which included:

• Public investments in the library, transit center, sewer system, and streetscape.
• Tax Increment Financing in targeted areas to stimulate development.
• Recent affordable housing initiatives.
• Planned developments that negotiate new public benefits.

The city council’s development policies have served Evanston well for the past 15 years. It is your policies that bring urban development professionals from around the world asking, “How did Evanston do it?”  These landscape designers, architects, city planners, and transportation professionals, learn their lessons from Evanston and apply similar planning principles in their own communities.  There will soon be many downtowns developing that bear our template.

We support the consultant study already underway which includes: preparation of a revised downtown plan, recommendations for downtown zoning, and surveys of parking supply and demand.  The results of the study will allow the City to identify the tools and standards which are needed to guide the further development of downtown Evanston.  However, we also feel that under the new development process you approved last year, the City Council can balance the interest of private investors and the City’s desire to control the shape of downtown and negotiate for public benefits, without a moratorium.

There are numerous testimonials to the city’s revitalization: 2,000 new residents and home buyers in downtown Evanston, and admiring outside observers like The New York Times, San Jose Mercury, and Chicago Tribune, who continue to consistently celebrate Evanston’s downtown planning and foresight.

While there is precedent for creating moratoriums on new construction when major planning studies are undertaken, City of Evanston staff and The Chamber believe a moratorium may send the wrong message to the development community that the City is not interested in new development.  Also, in recent years, when moratoriums were enacted, they were extended well beyond their original sunset date.  It is also worth noting that the two proposed large-scale projects in the Fountain Square block would not be impacted by a moratorium because they have begun their regulatory process for possible approval.

Perhaps, no one said it better than 2nd Ward Alderman Lionel Jean-Baptiste at your May 10 Planning and Development Committee meeting:

“Market forces are the dynamic that propelled downtown development.  To the extent that we begin to implement dogmatic boundaries I think it will stunt growth and development….Calling for a moratorium downtown is presupposing that we’re planning a model that everything will be able to fit into a nice, neat package.  I suggest that in reality, development will be as dynamic as it has always been.”

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Donald Huff, Evanston Chamber President 

Jonathan Perman, Evanston Chamber Executive Director