CITY OF EVANSTON UNIVERSITY/CITY COMMITTEE CIVIC CENTER _ROOM 2200 MINUTES OF JULY 16, :00 p.m.

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1 CITY OF EVANSTON UNIVERSITY/CITY COMMITTEE CIVIC CENTER _ROOM 2200 MINUTES OF JULY 16, :00 p.m. Members Present: Others Present: Presiding Official:. Staff Present: Alderman Judy Fiske, Eugene Sunshine, Ron Nayler, David Schoenfeld, and Peter Lobin Carolyn Smith, Scott Studebaker, Lucile Krasnow, Bruce Enenbach, Bob Atkins, Beth Atkins, Robert Welland, Jean Lindwall, James Dalton, Betsy Hohman, Julia.., Diane Korling, John Fiske, and Bob Janes Alderman Judy Fiske Marty Lyons, Elke Purze, Bill Dunkley and Carlos D. Ruiz DECLARATION OF QUORUM Alderman Judy Fiske, Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. with a quorum of five members present (Eugene Sunshine, Ron Nayler, David Schoenfeld, and Peter Lobin). APPROVAL OF THE OCTOBER 16 and October 30, 2008 MEETING MINUTES David Schoenfeld moved to approve the minutes of October 16 and October 30, Peter Lobin seconded the motion. Discussion: D. Schoenfeld said reading the minutes reminded him about the issue of on campus housing to off campus housing ratio in Northwestern University (NU). He noted Vanderbilt University houses 100 percent of its students on campus. He said it is an important issue that affects community relations between the neighboring community and NU, where a large number of students are required the live off campus. Ron Nayler said Vanderbilt University requires all freshmen students to live on campus for all four years. NU has conducted multiple studies with the student body within the last 18 months. It is clear that the vast majority of freshmen on campus and sophomores (about percent) want to live on campus. It drops off dramatically for juniors and seniors, who do not want to live on campus. Vanderbilt University bought a huge track of land next to its campus, it has a lot more land next to its campus to expand student housing. If NU had another 70 acres of land next to its campus then that might be a little bit easier for NU to do. In response to a question from Alderman Fiske regarding the minutes of October 30, 2008 where it is stated that the Master Plan does not call for a new a Kellogg School Building, Ron Nayler said the minutes should be amended to read the plan does not specify a site for a new Kellogg School building. The minutes of October 16 and October 30, 2008-as amended were unanimously approved. ITEM FOR DISCUSSION I. The University s proposed demolition of existing structures on, and/or new construction plans for, the University s current T1 and T2 District properties and the University s current U1 District properties (if any). II. Any other issues relating to planning, land use, building and zoning pertaining to the University s current T1 and T2 District Properties and the University s current U1 District Properties.

2 Page 2 A) Pending lease and/or sale of a portion of the Seabury Western T1/T2 property to Northwestern University (new item). Alderman Fiske explained the Consent Decree between NU and the City, a Court order to the resolution of the lawsuit that NU filed in 2004 over the Northeast Evanston Historic District. It calls for a community discussion, so that residents of the neighborhood could learn about Northwestern s use and plans for properties in the T1 and T2 zoning districts. The T1 and T2 zoning districts go right through Seabury Western (Seabury). T1 is more restrictive use, to be a transition between the R1 use of property on Orrington Avenue and the more intensive use to the east. Alderman Fiske said (with the understanding that the uses of the property between Sheridan Road and Orrington Avenue, affect the enjoyment of the use of property and also property values) the purpose of the NU/City Committee is to serve as the source of information about what NU plans are. She said Seabury is closing; NU owns the land underlying Seabury in the T1, T2 zoning districts. Alderman Fiske said tonight s discussion is about what is going to happen to the Seabury property and the impact on the neighborhood. Ron Nayler addressed item I on the agenda first. He said that the Searle House Center is under construction. The plans presented are the same ones being built by the contractor. The new construction should be completed around spring time and then they will move forward with the renovation of the existing buildings. Alderman Fiske said there was a concern from neighbors about the removal of the parkway trees. She said the City has assured her that no parkway trees will be removed. Going back to the issue at hand, Eugene Sunshine said the block of Orrington, Haven, Garrett Place, and Sheridan is about 3.8 acres, excluding two privately owned homes on the northeast corner of Garrett Place and Orrington. The remaining eastern portion of the block, the eastern portion of the site up and down Sheridan Road and moving west is about 2.1 acres, NU owns that land. He said the land was leased in perpetuity Seabury, so the land was owned by the University and the buildings were owned by Seabury including the Chapel and the building south of it that has classrooms and administrative space and also some of the student housing. Eugene Sunshine said the other parcel owned by Seabury on the Orrington side (1.6 acres) and the land on which Seabury s buildings are (single family homes, four duplex units and on Garrett there are a couple of single family homes). He said a number of months ago the University entered into a couple of leases for use of the buildings for different purposes. One is the rental housing (18 to 20 units in the U shaped building) that opens up onto Haven. That began sometime in early spring, where 18 to 20 students have been living there under the lease agreement with Seabury. NU also leased an office in Seabury s administrative building, now it is used for advising student athletes and it also leased 8 to 12 parking spaces. There Daily Northwestern reported all of this in May Eugene Sunshine said he was not speaking for Seabury and he did not know if Seabury is closing. But they are changing the way they deliver their academic services, getting away from a traditional campus into some other type of delivery of their master s degree and Divinity services. These are the reasons why NU was able to rent space and why the conversations continue with Seabury. They have the Chapel, the elongated building with classrooms, offices, library, student center, and dining room for students. Seabury also has single family houses and duplexes for faculty and staff. E. Sunshine announced that as of this morning they have reached an agreement and signed papers with Seabury that effectively give the University title to the buildings on the land it already owns and the buildings and the land that Seabury has owned and operated, that the University did not owned on the western side. According to Eugene Sunshine, NU intents to continue the uses of the buildings exactly as the uses are now under the zoning laws. He said those functions can continue if an entity such as NU continues the uses as were being used and have been used for a long time, under what is referred as the grandfathering provisions of City law. That is exactly what NU has in mind. The housing on Orrington will continue to be used for faculty and staff. The buildings that are further east have a combination of administrative and classroom space and that is what the buildings will be used for. Alderman Fiske said but the age of the students would change from graduate students to undergraduate students. E.

3 Page 3 Sunshine said NU may use the buildings partly for graduate students there. He said Seabury is facing out of the land. Their staff and faculty will continue to live in some of the units on Orrington for a year or two. Similarly, some of the Divinity students that are there in the other buildings will continue there and face out over time. Seabury will use some of the administrative, office classroom space for up to a year or two. Eugene Sunshine said the two dormitories on Garrett are apartment buildings. The buildings will be used eventually for graduate or undergraduate student housing. NU has no plans to tear down the buildings or change the foot print of the buildings. Ron Naylor said in the U shaped building there are 45 beds. The two apartment buildings are a mix of one, two and three bedrooms. They do not know the number of beds it translates to, it would depend on whether there are graduate or undergraduate students. The building on Haven is a dormitory building for undergraduate and graduate students. They have a commitment to house some of the Seabury and the Garrett students who are currently in the apartment buildings. That will face out overtime. Gene Sunshine said it is possible that over the years there may be some more of those apartment style units rented to the Garrett students as well. He added that there is a relationship already between Garrett and Seabury for the use of their library on the western side of Sheridan Road. Bill Dunkley, Zoning Administrator listed the permitted and special uses in T1 and T2 (see attachment): Permitted uses in T1 Day care home - Adult Day care home - Child Dwelling - Single-family detached Dwelling - Two-family Educational institution Public Home occupation Park Playground Residential care home - Category I Special Uses in T1 Administrative office (college and university) Bed and breakfast establishment Departmental staff office (college and university) Educational institutions private Faculty offices (college and university) Parking areas containing more than five (5) parking spaces and accessory to T1 Transitional Campus Districts Parking lot (when accessory to a principal use located in the U-2 University Athletic Facility District) Residential care home - Category II Student religious organization meeting house Transitional treatment facility - Category I Transitional treatment facility - Category II Planned development Permitted uses in T2 Administrative office (college and university) Day care home - Adult Day care home - Child Departmental staff office (college and university) Dwelling - Single-family detached Dwelling - Two-family Educational institution public Faculty offices (college and university) Home occupation Park Playground Residential care home - Category I Shelters for abused persons. Special Uses in T2 Bed and breakfast establishment Classroom facility (college and university) Cultural facility Day care center Adult Day care center Child Dormitory (college and university) Dwelling - Fraternity/Sorority (college and university) Dwelling - Multiple-family Educational institution private Government institution Indoor recreation facility (college and university) Outdoor recreation facility (college and university) Parking areas containing more than five (5) parking spaces and accessory to T2 Transitional Campus Districts Public utility Religious institutions Residential Care Home - Category II Scoreboards (college and university) Transitional shelters Transitional treatment facility - Category I Transitional treatment facility - Category II Planned development Lot Coverage Lot coverage permitted: T1= 40%; T2= 50% Yard requirements are similar to R1 Building height permitted: T1=35 or 2.5 stories, whichever is lower; T2 = 45

4 Page 4 Bill Dunkley said the boundary between the T1 and T2 districts cuts through the Seabury building. The western side zoning lot is T1, the eastern side is T2. The Zoning Ordinance allows that for split zone lots the Zoning Administrator can determine that one or the other of the two zoning districts apply to the entire zoning lot. If it is established when the use was legal to have in that district and subsequently either the zoning map or the Zoning Ordinance changed to make that a less legal use, it is usually changed to a special use. A use that has been established as legal can continue at infinitum as it is, that is generally referred as grandfathered. Unless there is a lapse of more than 12 months in that use, then no longer has its legal non conforming status. There are some uses which have continued for a long time and they are allowed to continue without a change in impact and without a change in floor area and expand a legal non conforming use, unless all of the expanded parts are in conformance with the zoning regulations. Alderman Fiske said it would make sense for the City to determine what the uses in the various sections of the building(s) have been. Jean Lindwall asked how Evanston s ordinance treats non conforming uses. Bill Dunkley said in general the use continues as it is or at a lesser impact. Jean Lindwall said it would be nice to know what the uses are because this is a split zoning lot. Robert Atkins asked if the City would analyze the prior uses and the proposed uses. He said housing was mentioned as one of the uses. Where do the dormitories come in terms of housing and how the grandfathered situation applies? Bill Dunkley said the City analyzes every change in use that is proposed for compliance with the Ordinance. Including the past history of that use, if it is legal non conforming and it would determine if the use is compliant or noncompliant. At the request from R. Atkins, Bill Dunkley read the definition of dormitory: A building or portion thereof that contains living quarters for students, staff, or members of an accredited college, university, boarding school, theological school, hospital, religious order, or comparable organization; provided that said building is owned or managed by said organization and contains not more than one cooking and eating area; and further provided that said building complies with the rooming house ordinance of the city. Diane Korling asked if the inventory would be generated on behalf of the City or on behalf of the University. Bill Dunkley said because much of that information would come from the University, the inventory would be done on behalf of everyone else. Robert Atkins said it would be important to establish how the property is currently being used, how it has been used and how it is changed. Bill Dunkley said the inventory would establish if the use is permitted or listed as an eligible special use if it had a special use ordinance; that is all what zoning cares about. To determine the legal non conforming use one has to establish the covenants, the history of that use in order to establish that it is a legal non conforming use. Jean Lindwall said one of the things about non conforming uses is not making them more non conforming than what they were previously. The dormitory is the only non conforming use on the site. The analysis should how Seabury used those buildings, the level of intensity establishing what the intensity of the dormitory use was and compare that to what Northwestern is proposing and how it is proposing to operate the dormitory (less intensive or more intensive). Betsy Hohman asked how the dorms are going to be utilized. She said there is a big difference between graduate students and undergraduate students. Garrett is a quiet street and as a neighbor that is a great concern for her. Alderman Fiske suggested doing the inventory and at the next meeting they can talk with the University about how it plans to use the buildings. It may take a while for the University to decide how many students will be there, how many undergraduates, the mix of graduate students, Divinity students, and the uses of the buildings. Eugene Sunshine said in their examination of the buildings they have a very good idea of what is administrative space and what is classroom space, because that is how the University is going to be using them. Due to the grandfathering provision, they can t change the use. They are already using some of the space for offices and housing. Bill Dunkley said the Zoning Ordinance provides the ability for substitution of the non conforming use to a lesser intensive use. Regarding the Garrett block, Eugene Sunshine said the housing that is closest to that is not dormitories but apartments and the University will not convert it away from apartments.

5 Page 5 Regarding potential modifications Ron Naylor said they can modify the interior of the apartments as still apartments, they can t modify the interior of apartments and change them to dormitories. They can renovate the apartments, making a one bedroom to a two or three bedroom. They can t change them to dormitories. Jean Lindwall asked if the University would consider converting what is now a dormitory into an apartment style building. Gene Sunshine said they do not intent to do that. They will continue with the dormitory use. Bob Atkins said he was concerned with the continuing use of the dormitories in the T1 zone; it is a violation of the zoning laws, unless it is grandfathered. He said he was surprised the Committee did not meet before people were put into the properties. Under the Consent Decree the Committee does not need to wait a quarter to have a meeting. Alderman Fiske said she was sworn in mid May and she requested a meeting soon after. R. Atkins said Northwestern should have advised the community representative of what was happening and not have the community read about it in the newspaper. Alderman Fiske asked Elke Purze of the Law Department if not-for-profits are required to pay transfer taxes on property. Elke Purze said it depends, there are certain exemptions. Ron Nayler said there are exemptions in this case, but the transfer taxes were paid at the full value of the sale anyway. The full value was 13 million and change. Regarding a statement made before, that a non conforming use is not a legal use, Bill Dunkley said that is not accurate. There are legal non conforming uses which are those that were established when that use was a legal use, they are allowed to continue; that is not a violation of the Zoning Ordinance. R. Atkins said his point was if the property was used in a fashion different than Northwestern is being using it now. In other words, it is a dormitory now and if it was a dormitory before. E. Sunshine said that is not the case, the U shaped building was a dormitory before and it is a dormitory now. Jean Lindwall said the question is whether or not Seabury stopped to use it as a dormitory and then some time later Northwestern started using it as a dormitory. David Schoenfeld said moving from Divinity students to Northwestern students is a change of use. Bill Dunkley said that would be a challenging question to explore. Ron Nayler said undergraduate students were there since the spring. They have not heard a single complaint or had any issues from anybody in the community that there is any distinction between Seabury s occupancy or Northwestern s occupancy. David Schoenfeld said in an area zoned to exclude dormitories that have undergraduate Northwestern students living there, that is a material change in the intensity of the use. Ron Nayler said it is not. The definition of dormitory does not say there is a difference between undergraduates or graduates or between Theological students or Northwestern students. David Schoenfeld said what he is talking about is whether the uses fit within the definition that would be permitted in the T2 district. He was talking about a legal non conforming use and now a transition of use and ownership. It is a fair question whether or not this change of use would materially intensify the use. Betsy Hohman said the immediate neighbors are concerned. At fifty percent capacity she has not perceived any change, but at a hundred percent capacity with freshman students it is a lot different. Ron Nayler said that there might be undergraduates in the U shaped building on Haven, not a building on Garrett. David Schoenfeld said there are socially lively dorms and there are quiet dorms, there are sophisticated matching programs [to place students in dormitories]. He wondered if Northwestern would be interested in doing some of that. James Dalton asked about trucks in the alley and if food service would be continued. Eugene Sunshine said he was not sure if they will use the dining area. J. Dalton said that Seabury took care of trees. He asked who is going to take care of the trees. Ron Naylor said the same people will continue providing maintenance for a while. In response to a question about the vacant house on Garrett, Ron Nayler said the house is a two family house that is vacant. The house to the east is occupied by the President/Dean of Seabury. Northwestern purchased that building as well and everything on the block, except two private houses. Eugene Sunshine said the empty house would be used for recruiting and faculty. They could rent it as early as the fall if they have the demand for it.

6 Page 6 Alderman Fiske said the Seabury property at 600 Haven is a local landmark and it is in the historic district. The double houses on Orrington are also in the historic district and they would be reviewed by the Preservation Commission. She asked staff to do an inventory of the Seabury use of their property and ask staff to report back to the Committee at the next meeting, at which time she would like to find out a little more about Northwestern s plans for the use of the buildings in the fall. She would like to meet in September or no later than the first week in October. The Committee agreed to tentatively schedule the next meeting on September 24, Robert Atkins asked if there was an update regarding the Roycemore School (Roycemore) site and about the former Kendall College property. Eugene Sunshine said Northwestern is not interested on the former Kendall College property. Bill Dunkley said he met with some developers about that site. He said there has been an increase in informational meetings about it. Regarding Roycemore, Bill Dunkley said their new site is at 1200 Davis, it is the south building of the Methodist Pension Board site. The new site seems ideal for Roycemore, including a gymnasium. Roycemore has obtained approval of a series of zoning variances. Eugene Sunshine said the lease with Roycemore runs out in 2014, Northwestern owns the land. He said there are no plans for the Roycemore site. There is nothing specific as to what the University might propose for the site. He said the University is cognizant of the zoning, the historic nature of the building(s), and their local and National landmark status. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted: Carlos D. Ruiz Senior Planner/Preservation Coordinator