Envision Evanston

Thoughts from Mayor Biss on Envision Evanston 2045

I wanted to share an update on the Envision Evanston 2045 project, which has seen major developments in the past months.

In order to make sure that we do this right, incorporate robust input from across the community, and end up with an excellent product, the City Council decided to slow down the zoning aspect of the process significantly, asking the Land Use Commission to make its recommendation to Council by September.

Additionally, Council asked to discuss updates to the comprehensive plan before addressing the zoning code. To that end, we released a new draft comprehensive plan last Friday, which you can read here. The Land Use Commission is now discussing it, after which it will come to Council.

This effort has been underway for a long time, and we’ve asked residents for a lot of input and guidance. I deeply appreciate all your engagement to date, and as the effort continues to move forward I hope you’ll continue to stay involved and continue to share your thoughts. As I’ve said from the beginning of this lengthy process, we’ll only reach the outcome our community deserves if people from all walks of life are at the table.

What is this all about?

We talk a lot about Evanston’s diversity, and at its core Envision Evanston 2045 is an effort to preserve and expand on that. I want us to be a place where teachers in our public schools can afford to live; where young families can afford to move; where seniors can afford to age in place. Right now all of that is under threat, as spiraling housing costs price people out of town.

This situation is partially a consequence of the restrictions imposed by our zoning laws. For instance, the modest duplexes and other similar “missing middle” housing types that are home to so many of Evanston’s middle-class families would be illegal to build in huge swaths of town (the sections labeled “R1” or “R2” in our zoning map). That ban means that it’s literally impossible to build housing that working families can afford in much of Evanston.

These obstacles and others work together to limit the supply of housing, and in a community like Evanston that’s fortunate enough to be in high demand, the lack of inventory sends prices through the roof. One key goal of Envision Evanston 2045 is to expand housing supply to address the affordability crisis.

The phrase “affordable housing” means a lot of different things to different people, so let me be a little more precise here. I’m not saying that zoning changes alone will automatically create housing that’s affordable for the lowest-income households – in fact, they won’t. But as we increase the housing supply, it will slow the growth of housing costs for everyone, meaning that regardless of income, it will become easier for everyone to find housing in their price range. And when used strategically in combination with policies like our Inclusionary Housing Ordinance that mandates the creation of affordable units in new developments, zoning changes absolutely can be a tool that guarantees new units that are affordable for low-income households.

Another major goal of Envision Evanston 2045 is sustainability. Multi-unit housing is less energy-intensive than single-family homes, and increasing density near transit will help Evanston become less car-dependent. Furthermore, every time we make it possible for someone to live in our community, we eliminate the need for more housing to be built in the far-flung exurbs, building on open space and doubling down on our reliance on driving.

Another goal is economic revitalization. Evanston’s downtown still hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic, in part because the prevalence of working from home means that thousands of workers who used to be in Evanston offices all day are no longer there, and therefore not having lunch in Evanston restaurants, grabbing coffee at Evanston cafés, or running errands in Evanston shops. Our downtown needs us to replace that lost purchasing power, and adding residents is the most straightforward way to do it.

Another goal is controlling property taxes. The City of Evanston only contributes 16% of our property tax bills. That means that nothing we do about the City budget will touch 84% of the tax bill. But when we expand the tax base, that relieves pressure on the whole bill, including both school districts. Property taxes are another component of our affordability crisis, so this is a critical point as well.

By the way, none of this would happen quickly. Changes to zoning laws simply set different rules going forward, enabling a gradual shift in trajectory, not an abrupt rupture. There’s a reason we call this Envision Evanston 2045 – that’s because it would take decades for the effects to truly take hold.

Finally, let me return to where I started, with diversity. At its best, Evanston is a place where people from all walks of life can come together. We have blocks where expensive single-family homes stand next to duplexes and four-unit buildings – and people in different economic circumstances, at different life stages, of different races all live together, generating the vitality that makes Evanston special. But many of these blocks were built before the current zoning rules went into effect and are only permitted because they were grandfathered in. By getting Envision Evanston 2045 right, we can return to the legal framework that created the Evanston we love.

What’s happened so far?

All of this sounds great, but it’s complicated and the devil is in the details. In order to do it right, we need to incorporate robust input from every corner of our community, making sure that we come up with a plan that works for each neighborhood and that is guided by resident voices.

That’s why for the last year, there have been over 100 public meetings to solicit input and hear thoughts on this project. We’ve worked hard to incorporate feedback in many different ways to lift up the voice of residents who don’t often participate in municipal government. Thousands of Evanstonians, not to mention multiple City boards, committees, and commissions, have participated in this process.

It hasn’t all been easy. The City had to part ways with a consultant that wasn’t meeting our expectations. After seeing initial drafts that were published late last year, some residents had concerns that things would move too fast to give adequate time for community participation. I’m pleased to say that Council has been unanimous in their view that while this work is critical and therefore urgent, the top priority is to get it right. That’s what led to the decision to delay consideration of the zoning code until September.

One aspect of this process that’s been especially gratifying is the extent of community engagement that’s occurred in recent months. Residents have spent significant time digging into this issue and talking with one another as well as with City officials. And while there’s been a broad diversity of views shared on the subject, with some people extremely excited about what they’ve seen so far and others very skeptical, there’s broad agreement that it’s time to update our comprehensive plan and zoning code, and that we should do so with a focus on affordability and the other objectives outlined above.

By the way, these discussions aren’t happening in a vacuum. In December, Governor Pritzker issued an executive order calling for municipalities across Illinois to enact many of the reforms we’ve been talking about in Evanston. And just in the last few weeks, a series of bills have been introduced in Springfield to mandate that. This trend continues to expand across the country as well, with communities that are in some ways similar to Evanston, like Cambridge, MA, taking extremely aggressive action in this direction. There are more and more jurisdictions across the country that we can learn from to make sure we do this well.

Ok so what now?

Now that a new draft of the comprehensive plan has been released, the focus will be on that document for some time. The Land Use Commission plans to spend a number of meetings working on the comprehensive plan; when they’re done, they’ll make a recommendation to Council, who will then take up the subject.

After that work is complete, attention will shift to the zoning code. This work involves an enormous number of nuanced discussions about competing priorities. What’s the right number of units to allow on what type of lot? How do setback requirements ensure adequate green space? How do we reap the benefits of density while maintaining a built environment that’s attractive and inviting to pedestrians and that doesn’t lead to overcrowding? And how will potential specific changes have different ramifications in different neighborhoods?

We’ve given ourselves the time to answer these questions well, and I’m confident that our community will step up and speak up to ensure that we’re doing this pivotal work together. I’ll end where I started this email, which is also where I started this discussion years ago: this is an exciting project that presents the opportunity to reap untold benefits for Evanston across many different cherished priorities. It’s a unique chance to enact win-win-win policies. At the same time, it’s work that can only be done well with robust engagement from people across the community, and with careful attention that avoids one-size-fits-all prescriptions.

I’m asking you to stay engaged in the discussion throughout the rest of the project so we can get this right together and build the affordable, sustainable, economically vibrant Evanston we all want.

How to stay engaged:

Thank you for all you do to make our community so special.