Message to our neighbors

Submitted by Jim Hughes on Mon, 11/13/2023 - 16:11

Dear Neighbors,

We are re-sending yesterday's message as a reminder and for those who may have missed it.

It''s been difficult to keep up with the changes and our council members have complained about a lack of communication and transparency..

To help  a little with that we are sending a few resources:

An analysis of the latest version (11/11/2023) of the MOU;

A spreadsheet analysis done by CSNA using the data in the RoundTable article:

A guest essay appearing today providing analysis of the long-term impact of the MOU:


Member and friends of the Central Street Neighbors Association:
 
Tomorrow evening, at the unusual time of 5:00 pm, the City Council will meet in Council chambers at 2100 Ridge and will consider final action on Northwestern University’s petitions for planned development and zoning amendment to convert the U2 district into a general event district. The rezoning would allow, in addition to the current ~26 current stadium and basketball arena major events, the following:

  • 6 open-air stadium concerts of up to 35,000 attendees (or the capacity of the stadium)
  • 60 outdoor “community events” and musical performances of up to 7,500 attendees, 
  • an unlimited number of indoor concerts and other mass events of up to 10,000 so long as they are “University-sponsored; current capacity of the largest such facility in the district, Welsh-Ryan Arena, is 7,039, but a larger building could hold more
  • events at banquet halls and auditoriums that the University apparently plans to build, that now don’t exist.

 
No additional parking beyond the current ~1,500 spaces is being provided.
 
The City will at the same meeting consider a contract with NU, being called a memorandum of understanding (“MoU”), first offered two weeks ago hours before the Oct. 30 Council meeting, and the new version of which is dated yesterday, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023. Under the MoU, Northwestern will provide certain benefits for up to 15 years, the most prominent being an annual $3 million payment to the Good Neighbor Fund. The rezoning, however, will be permanent, and the City contractually agrees not to change it or the “legal and regulatory” environment that now exists. None of the benefits in the MoU are designated for the stadium neighborhood. Most are specifically designated to be spent elsewhere.
 
Also on the agenda at the same meeting is introduction of the 2024 City budget representing over a $4 million increase in the property tax and tens of millions of dollars in new spending.
 
CSNA opposes the rezoning for the reasons given to the Council in January, to the Land Use Commission on Sept. 6. An analysis of the proposal’s failure to meet zoning amendment and planning standards is on our website. We encourage members to send a brief e-mail to Council members and Mayor Biss, or to make a short statement at the citizen comment portion of the meeting.
 
You may attend the Council meeting in person or by Zoom. The Zoom meeting ID is 854 6201 9921 and the passcode is 052392.  The web link is https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85462019921?pwd=zum41xiB9DtwuHIadNkJsXm30Ida9C.1

Those wishing to sign up to speak by Zoom may do so online at https://www.cityofevanston.org/government/city-clerk/public-comment-sign-up.


CSNA