While weather extremes have hammered many parts of America this spring, many of the systems have moderated by the time they reach the Chicago area, and we've experienced a pattern of rain and then sun more like springs of the past than the long, cold, wet of many recent years. This has produced, as far as I can see, a bumper year for spring wildflowers.

You are specially invited to an early-stage planning session for what may lead to a new Comprehensive Plan for Evanston. This is your last opportunity to chime in for what has been called Phase I:

Envision Evanston 2045 Input Session
Tuesday, May 7
7:30 pm
2715 Hurd Ave. (the former church)

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Winter in Chicagoland can be long and hard, as can some public debates. CSNA, with activities such as our annual musical entry in the 4th of July Parade, has always been about far more than City business, and we want to thank you for staying involved, and offer past, present, and potential future members a break from it all! 

Many if not most cities with zoning, preservation, and similar codes also have periodic longer-range plans that serve as both aspirational documents and as touchstones to guide and evaluate development, including requests for variance from code. Evanston’s last comprehensive plan adopted in 2000 was the work of a citizen committee chaired by an Evanston architect and including many with planning and community involvement.

The saga of the magnificent Harley Clarke house and grounds, going back to the end of the Evanston Art Center’s tenancy, is almost as long and sad as that of the Civic Center, with a similar subplot of neglect of a public asset, and non-transparency at key moments. But maybe that’s changing.

In a 2007 referendum, Evanstonians by a 6:1 landslide voted to rehab the current historic Lorraine Morton Civic Center at 2100 Ridge Ave. (right, seen in 2007) and keep City government there. Sadly, City government over the next 17 years never respected that mandate with a maintenance or restoration plan for the building.

The university’s demolition of its historic 1920s football stadium is nearly complete. NU plans to build a temporary facility on the lakefill for, at minimum, football games, which the City will likely permit. Meanwhile, litigation by stadium neighbors challenges the legality of the Council rezoning. At least one count of the lawsuit will move toward trial, although the court on April 19 dismissed some procedural counts, finding that five votes of the 10-person Council were sufficient to pass the zoning amendment.