By Bob Seidenberg
City officials have introduced the possibility of allowing the development of different housing options, such as duplexes and triplexes, in what are now single-family-only zones throughout the city, as one of the “bold steps” they are considering in the Envision Evanston 2045 process to rewrite the city’s zoning code and comprehensive plan.
Some participants suggested it might be too bold a step at a virtual meeting last week for residents in the city’s Sixth and Seventh Wards.
“I still have some serious concerns about the single-family zoning,” Jennifer Packman said. “How many places has this been tried in the country, just eliminating single family zoning from the whole city? I mean, that seems really dramatic. Are those the comparisons you’re using? How similar are those places to Evanston? Do we have any info on … long-term effects of some of the examples?”
Regional approach
Craig McClure, a Sixth Ward resident, argued that affordable housing means many things. “I would also suggest that Evanston is too small geographically to solve an ‘affordability’ option on its own. This should be approached regionally,” he said. “Personally, we chose a suburban setting when we moved here, and we certainly did not sign up to potentially have a fourplex built next to us.”
At the meeting, officials provided an overview of the Envision Evanston 2045 process.
For almost a year now, officials, working with consulting firm HDR, have been getting feedback from residents on what they’d like to see in the city’s next comprehensive plan and new zoning code, both of which are undergoing their first major revisions in nearly 25 years.
The call for greater density arose out of discussions about the lack of affordable housing, especially for some who work in the city but have to commute from less expensive towns because of high housing costs here.
“Making room for people at all kinds of economic levels is just really important so that we can keep the culture that we love about Evanston,” Cheryl Lawrence said. “And you know people who work in Evanston should be able to live here.”
Half R-1 lots don’t meet requirement
Taking a look at some of the existing conditions in Evanston, officials have found that many lots fall under the minimum size in single-family zones, said Elizabeth Williams, the city’s planning manager.
City staff found there are about 6,000 lots of land zoned as R-1 – single family districts – with about 49% of those lots not meeting the required 7,200 square feet to qualify for that designation.
“So just in general right now, our zoning is not matching what our existing conditions are on the ground,” Williams said.
She also noted that Evanston is known for being a community of different types of housing.
“Our neighborhoods currently have duplexes and triplexes and fourplexes within them, as well as multifamily developments,” she said. “And that’s one of the things we hear very often from community members that they love about this community, is the fact that you walk down the street and you see the different types of housing that exists, and it allows for different types of families to locate in these neighborhoods.
