Planning
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
Evanston Comprehensive General Plan
On May 8th, 2000, City Council adopted the Evanston Comprehensive General Plan. The plan looks at the city's assets in the context of regional change and seeks to build on them by articulating a series of long-range planning goals. The relative strengths & challenges of general land use, public facilities, circulation, and community environment in Evanston are addressed.
Evanston's Relative Strengths and Challenges
Although the community's assets are many, there are certain challenges Evanston must face. The Comprehensive General Plan identifies both strengths and challenges in considering the general context of Evanston's future.
Strengths
- The presence of outstanding higher learning institutions, including Northwestern University.
- Proximity to Chicago and the presence of excellent public transportation linking the two cities.
- Cultural amenities and unique identity of an "independent city," not an ordinary bedroom community.
- A diverse economy in which 43 percent of Evanston residents who are employed work within the community.
- Relative competitive advantage as a location for high-technology-based enterprise.
- A diversity of housing types, styles and prices that accommodate buyers and renters.
- A comparatively high rate of property value appreciation.
- A "traditional" pedestrian and transit oriented pattern of neighborhoods with tree-lined streets and convenient business districts, including a diverse Downtown area.
- Location adjacent to Lake Michigan and strong commitment to public lakefront parks. Parks and recreation programs that offer residents a wide selection of leisure activities.
- An appealing community aesthetic that includes distinctive architecture and landscaping and noteworthy historic preservation efforts.
- Public commitment to high quality services, safety protection, and facilities (including a state-of-the-art main library.)
- A system of quality public education that invests significant resources in students.
Challenges
- Fully built land area leads to high land costs and limits opportunities for expanding the supply of public facilities, such as recreation areas, open space, and off-street parking.
- High property taxes relative to other mature Chicago-area communities necessitating economic development initiatives to improve the equalized assessed valuation (EAV) of Evanston land.
- A housing market perceived as comparatively expensive necessitating efforts to promote housing affordable for low-, moderate-, and middle-income households.
- Loss of regional competitive advantage as a manufacturing and corporate office location due to the shift of commercial growth centers toward regional highway corridors.
- Proximity of Lake Michigan limits the eastern extent of the market area for the Central Business District (off-set by a higher population density than other suburbs).
- Aging infrastructure-most notably railroad overpasses--requiring both structural and cosmetic attention.
PLANNING