Evanston’s Land Use Commission voted Wednesday night to clear the procedural path for Connections for the Homeless to seek a special use permit for its operation at the Margarita Inn.
The commission voted to uphold the zoning administrator’s ruling that a rooming house special use issued for the property in 1974 had expired, rejecting a challenge to that decision from the building’s current owner.
And it voted to uphold the zoning administrator’s ruling that Connections’ operation of the property is consistent with the zoning ordinance definition of a rooming house, rejecting a challenge to that decision from two neighbors of the property.
The next step for the non-profit group is a hearing on its request for a new special use permit for the property that it hopes to purchase from the current owner.
LUC Chair Matt Rodgers said that at that point neighbors who have objected to the homeless shelter operation “can come before this board and ask us to address the particular concerns you have by the placement of conditions on the operation.”
Rodgers said he wants to “find out what could happen to make this property the best neighbor for you and for the people who are living in it.”
A final decision on the special use permit will be up to the City Council.