Part of what makes Evanston special is its historic homes, buildings and its place in Chicago’s north shore community.

SEA strives to keep that place in history current and relevant. To that end, SEA works with the Evanston History Center and other community-based groups to protect traditions, structures and the essentially residential quality of Evanston.

September 28, 2025

To: Evanston City Council

Re: Opposition to 605 Davis Street Planned Development

Dear Mayor and Councilmembers,

The Southeast Evanston Association respectfully urges the City Council to uphold the

recommendation of the Land Use Commission and deny the proposed 605 Davis Street planned

development in its current form. The Commission’s review was thorough, and its findings reflect the

concerns of residents across Evanston who value fiscal responsibility, consistent zoning, and livable

neighborhoods.

Our members are deeply concerned about the financial implications of this project, specifically the tax

breaks the developers are reaping because of the 20% affordability allocation. Both the City and our

public schools, District 65 and District 202, face significant fiscal challenges. District 65, for example,

is in the midst of a deficit reduction plan that requires difficult cuts to programs and services, along

with the closure of several top-performing neighborhood elementary schools. Approving a

development of this scale that shifts additional tax burdens onto existing residents, is unacceptable.

Southeast Evanston residents already shoulder some of the highest effective property tax burdens in

the city, and any shortfall in projected revenue from this project would fall disproportionately on them

and other taxpayers.

We are equally troubled by the extent of the variances being requested. Evanston’s zoning code is

designed to ensure predictability and fairness for residents, businesses, and institutions alike.

Granting allowances of this magnitude—in building height, density, and parking—undermines the

integrity of the code and sets a precedent that will weaken the City’s ability to manage future

development responsibly. With the Envision Evanston Comprehensive Plan still being finalized, now

is not the time to permit extraordinary exceptions that risk outpacing our planning framework by

setting dangerous zoning and fiscal precedents.

Finally, this project would exacerbate real, existing issues in our neighborhoods. The sharply reduced

on-site parking proposed—roughly eighty spaces for more than four hundred residential units—

virtually guarantees spillover into already crowded streets. Southeast Evanston residents contend

daily with limited overnight parking, and this development would add significant new pressures that

our neighborhoods are ill-equipped to absorb. The reliance on leased spaces in municipal garages

does not address these already experienced impacts and places additional operational burdens on

the City.

For all of these reasons, we respectfully ask the City Council to follow the considered judgment of the

Land Use Commission and deny the 605 Davis Street proposal. The Southeast Evanston Association

supports reinvestment in downtown Evanston, but only when projects are fiscally sound for all parties

and consistent with adopted plans and codes, and respectful of the neighborhoods that surround

them.

Sincerely,

Southeast Evanston Association

cc: SEA Membership