At a sixth special meeting since the Evanston City Council considered implementing Envision Evanston 2045, City Council members continued their work in making suggestions on the city’s comprehensive plan that will guide the city for the next 20 years.
Through nearly 30 hours of discussion, the City Council has withstood hours of debate and public comment to get a comprehensive plan to a completed stage. The topic at times has served as a lightning rod for residents speaking in favor of or against increased density, especially as the City Council mulls the proposed tallest residential building in the suburban Chicago area. After hundreds of policy amendments, the City Council gave city staff a chance to draft a final version of the plan that will guide the city for the next 20 years.
After the City Council made its final amendment, Mayor Daniel Biss called the near six-hour public hearing to a close.
“Staff will begin collating all the votes that have taken place, working with the graphic design team to produce a final version of the comprehensive plan,” Biss said. The earliest that the plan could be back on the Council’s agenda is Nov. 10, he said, conceding that it’s not a guarantee that the plan will be back that day. On City Councilmember Matt Rodger’s (8th ward) request, the City Council will have a two week runway to review the completed plan before voting on it.
Policy and Intergovernmental Affairs Manager Alison Leipsiger told the Council that a copy editor would review the plan in the next step of the process. “We are going to do everything we can to make sure that all of the tinkering — because you guys did a lot of language tinkering — and so did the BCCs (Boards, Commissions and Committees), and so did the Land Use Commission… We’re going to do our best to maintain all of that,” she said.
“Somebody will be fixing the grammar… and putting it all into one voice and all those things. I want to give you a heads up on that,” she said.
As the plan progressed, some of the draft’s tightest votes on policies have been on allowing denser housing types to be built in areas of Evanston currently zoned for single-family homes. Advocates for maintaining current density in some neighborhoods have largely worried about changing the character of a neighborhood when it comes to traffic, services, parking and in some cases the affordability of newly-built homes. Proponents of more dense neighborhoods say an increased supply of housing could help the overall affordability of Evanston.
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Biss has largely supported the creation of more homes in Evanston, writing in a May 2024 op-ed in the baiduhai that expanding the housing supply is the best thing the city can do to increase affordability, while also speaking in favor of creating more housing near public transit.