Evanston’s Land Use Commission voted unanimously Wednesday night in favor of Northwestern University’s plan to build a new Ryan Field stadium.
But the panel voted 7-2 against the school’s request for a text amendment to permit up to six concerts at the stadium.
Commissioners Myrna Arevalo and John Hewko cast the votes in favor of the text amendment
Commission Chair Matt Rodgers suggested that the proposed text amendment went into too much detail. He proposed a different version that would have left those details to be worked out in a memorandum of understanding between the city and the university.
He suggested that would give the city much more flexibility in responding to any issues that might arise than having all the details baked into the zoning amendment’s text.
That proposal failed on a 6-3 vote.
Hewko said he wasn’t convinced by the university’s claims that the financial viability of the stadium project was dependent on having concerts.
“I don’t find it a credible argument,” he said, that the university, with a $2 billion operating budget, would need to walk away from the stadium project if it didn’t have concerts from which it hoped to generate $2 million to $3 million in revenue.
But, he said, it would be “a treat to have a world-class concert venue in Evanston.”
A site that Evanston residents could easily get to and that would bring people in from outside to spend money in Evanston, he said, “would be a very good thing.”
“On balance, I would favor concerts,” he added, “subject to some very strict conditions.”
But Commissioner George Halik said the impact of concerts “is a neighborhood issue” and that views of residents of the area around the stadium “are probably running 5-1 against the project.”
He claimed that the 3,000 people who signed a university-sponsored petition in favor of the project “is less than 5% of the population of Evanston — so that’s not significant.”
Besides, he asked, “Where do they live?”
Commissioner Max Puchtel said he believed neighbors’ concerns about noise had been overstated, but that there was so much detail missing from the plans for how traffic would be handled that he couldn’t vote for the proposal.
“It makes the most sense to proceed with caution,” Puchtel said, “Concerts could be perfectly fine, but they don’t have to happen right away, he added.
Arevalo said she’s a concert goer and that she doesn’t believe the noise would affect the neighbors as much as they think it will affect them.
“Music brings people together,” she added.
Commissioners Brian Johnson, Jeanne Lindwall, Kiril Mirintchev and Kristine Westerberg also voted against the concert plan.
The stadium plans now go to the City Council, which gets the final vote on both the replacement for the century-old stadium and whether there’ll be music concerts in the new venue.
As excited as I was late last night for the thoughtful analysis and discussion during the past 3 LUC meetings, they don’t add up to a hill of beans if the city council ignores the recommendation and relies predominantly on political factors (ie political contributions, trendy buzz words, and false promises that are more marketing with no merit) over the facts. I’m not holding my breath!😔
But well done to the LUC commission. No matter how they voted, from watching a dozen hours of the video the last few weeks they seemed to all do an excellent job being professional and objective. Maybe some of them will do us a favor and run for city council next so we’ve got more adults in the room.
Kudos to the LUC for a thoughtful and elegant solution. I would have preferred to spend the $800M to rehab the current stadium, but I guess that is not an option. (I think you could do a hell of a lot with $800M and Ryan’s name will still be on it) This solution also provides the opportunity for NU to demonstrate their real commitment to minority firms and local employment in the construction of the building. And the concern about the maintenance amounts, find a more reasonably priced head coach. According to NU’s 990 filing, Mr. Fitzgerald was paid $5.8M (more than twice the amount of the President of the University.) Perhaps NU could entertain using this position to help other coaches that are equally as talented but are not showcased or recognized. It is at its core, a teaching institution.
Welcome to Harley Clarke #2!!! AGAIN, a self funded infrastructure project not happening due to the NIMBYs.
Turning a small building into a B&B is not even a close comparison to unlimited commercial use of a stadium in the heart of a residential neighborhood. You cannot punish the opponents of concerts because past city council elected to not pursue the HC project. You don’t make up for past oppportunities missed by approving reckless and detrimental impacts when neighbors 5 to 1 (per LUC last night) oppose the commercial use of the stadium.
This is a generational project which could well help define the city for many years to come. I hope the council understands the interests of a few should not impact those of the many. It would be truly a benefit for a world-class event venue to locate in Evanston; for those who think it would negatively impact their property values, check out Wrigleyville property values. It’s not like they are planning to put an unregulated homeless shelter in their neighborhood.
Can we put it in your neighborhood instead, then?
I will swap you the stadium for the Margarita Inn that is in my neighborhood. 10 days of inconvenience vs 365 days of garbage, vagrants and safety issues.
If you take Margarita Inn, then yes, I’ll take 2 stadiums.
Want to just trade homes?
One has to assume you haven’t been paying enough attention to the facts that came out repeatedly during the LUC meetings. Your argument is to severely detriment the few (1000s btw) for a potential (nothing close to guaranteed) tiny benefit of the many.
Or we can stand up to NU’s half baked self interested plans, and demand more so that the detriment is manageable and the benefit for all of Evanston is real.
I’m not against the stadium, or even the concerts if they properly design and plan that such a grand venture and change in zoning demands, but NU has shown no interest in doing so. They went with the blitz marketing campaign and played to racial and progressive buzzwords (generational wealth for people of color?) and chose to create animosity and drive division instead of actually solving the hard problems.
It is a generational opportunity, so let’s make sure we get it right for everyone!!!
Oh my god. The city of hypocrisy can eff right off now. I don’t trust any one of them. They oh so carefully listen to the concerns of THESE neighbors and doubt where THESE petition signers live?
Where was this due diligence when the LUC waved off the concerns of us who live in the Margarita neighborhood? Why did they blindly accept the petition signers who were “All Inn?”
Well, now we won’t get Taylor Swift or Joji to hype up this joyless place every other month and attract younger people’s spending money. But hey, if the old landowners of Evanston (and Wilmette) protested, at least they actually listened. So… Good job, I guess.
But we DO get real public safety incidents, like homeless men assaulting teens outside Bennisons and Chipotle. What a prize. I’m disgusted. At least I spend my money elsewhere on concerts and clubs.
While I wholeheartedly agree on the margarita inn… but me and many neighbors near the stadium consist of young families, with very young kids. I’m not sure why you think everyone is old. It’s a very misleading and inaccurate stereotype of concert opposition.
But JP, we also have many neighbors near the unlicensed homeless shelter consist of young families, with very young kids. (in fact a unit in my building vacated suddenly, and they had a newborn and a toddler). I’m not sure why you think everyone is old. Although, we do have a mini-tower of an assisted living facility in the area, where quite a few purple “We’re All Inn” shirts and such live. Never seen a resident from there on foot at any point. A doorman and lil busses keep them protected.
It’s a very misleading and inaccurate stereotype of Margarita Inn opposition. But as my neighbor said…”at least you got heard”.
To be clear I’m saying I agree with Katherine’s comments that it was waved off inappropriately. I never meant to suggest or imply anything about the age of the Margarita inn opposition. (or supporters for that matter… but I agree with you many likely live in a privileged bubble that middle class families can’t afford).
Personally I think the Margarita Inn approval was A TERRIBLE idea and I feel bad for all Evanstoanians that are dealing with the consequences of our increasingly decrepid downtown based on that decision and many similar before it. I feel particularly awful for the 1st ward residents that are most directly impacted.
But I also don’t think that mistake should justify another one. I don’t think that the 7th ward Central Business district and residents should suffer from similarly awful decisions under the guise that the politically self created issues in the 1st ward should somehow justify a massive change to the 100 year old zoning laws around the stadium. Without major changes to the plans, NU is the only one setup for success atm.
I have shared this before, I have family with addiction issues. I have immediately family suffering through it as we speak and it’s heartbreaking. I have extended family in one of Evanston’s worst facilities right now. I know first hand how difficult mental health and addiction issues are to cure… and I know first hand how these well intended efforts by our politicians are not the answer! Tim, My heart goes out to those families, but also to yours and your neighbors for what you’re dealing with due to the many failed decisions of our elected leaders.
The University wants to host concerts… I’m curious why there has been no discussion about holding indoor concerts in the humongous Ryan Fieldhouse located in the far NE corner of campus… Lots of parking, lots customers on campus… Oh yeah, there’s some expensive lakefront houses nearby…
Please see: https://nurecreation.com/facilities/ryan-fieldhouse-wilson-field/13
Respectfully, Brian G. Becharas