Evanston’s City Council is scheduled tonight to review plans for a five-story mixed-use development with a garden center and 26 apartments at 100 Chicago Ave.
The City Grange or Evanston Gateway development would be built on a city parking lot that the developer has a contract to purchase and on now vacant land that formerly housed an auto repair business.
Developer David Brown is seeking approval for a zoning change for part of the parcel from C1 commercial to the B3 business zoning the rest of the site already has. Residential uses are allowed above the ground floor in B3, but not permitted at all in C1.
He also needs planned development approval for the project and a special use permit for an open sales lot to be used by the garden center.
As a site development allowance for the planned development, he’ss asking for approval to provide only 30 parking spaces where 37 are required by the city’s zoning code.
The project was approved by the Plan Commission last month on a 5-1 vote.