Evanston aldermen voted Monday to reject a rezoning proposal from one private school while accepting the request of another.
The Chicago-based Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov School was turned down in its request to rezone a long-vacant industrial building at 222 Hartrey Ave. for school use.
The rejection came despite a last-minute offer by the school’s attorney to consider making a payment in lieu of property taxes that would cover lost revenue to local public schools as well as the previously agreed payment to cover lost tax revenue to the city.
The petition by the orthodox Jewish school had drawn strong opposition from Alderman Ann Rainey, whose 8th Ward includes the property.
The only vote against the denial came from Alderman Steve Bernstein, 4th Ward, who urged that a voted be postponed to give time to renegotiate the payment in lieu of taxes agreement.
The proposal also drew opposition Monday from the Evanston Chamber of Commerce, which said the land could be used by a private-sector employer to create “good-paying jobs and revenue for Evanston.”
Why professional jobs for teachers at the school should not be seen as a benefit for the city was not addressed by the chamber’s statement.
Meanwhile the aldermen voted unanimously to approve a request by the non-sectarian Roycemore School to rezone the Methodist Pension Board building at 1200 Davis St. to become the school’s new home.
Roycemore, which has operated in Evanston for nearly a century on a site leased from Northwestern University, was not required by the aldermen to make a payment in lieu of taxes in return for the zoning change — apparently because the pension board building is already off the tax rolls.
Aldermen rejected a Plan Commission recommendation that the uses permitted in the O1 office zone by amended to include private schools, and instead approved the school’s request to change the zoning to R4.
Alderman Bernstein said much O1 land in the city is located near the Northwestern University campus and he feared the university might purchase such property if the zoning permitted school uses.
Some neighbors of the pension board site had said they didn’t like the R4 plan because it would permit multi-family residential uses if the school ever sold the site.