1979-1980 Communications Re. Proposed U2 Uses

The 1410 Street Corporation asked the City Council to keep zoning restrictions on NU's use of the Stadium.

#4 Hospital parking

1979 Memos re. U Districts & Hospital Parking

#5 Great American Horse Show

Horse Show issue

Dear Council Members:

June 5, 1979

The Board of 1410 Central Street Corporation, on behalf of its residents, jests the Evanston City Council to keep the zoning restrictions which presently determine Northwestern University's use of Dyche Stadium and McGaw Hall.

These sports facilities are in a residential neighborhood. While home owners and residents of the rental apartment buildings in the vicinity can accept and perhaps even enjoy the University's present use of these facilities, the members of this corporation view with alarm the changing of zoning restrictions. They have some facts and experiences on which to base their concern:

1. the noise and dirt created by the increased traffic with the closure of Isabella and Lincoln streets during bridge construction.

2. the need for street parking for residents of older buildings which do not have adequate garage space or none at all for residents, not to mention guests of residents.

3. the increase of traffic and the need for additional street parking which will be created by approximately sixty new housing units presently being constructed near the stadium.

4. the increased traffic and its attendant dirt and noise created by Northwestern University's opening a stadium parking lot to employees of General Finance Corporation and Evanston Hospital (a civic attitude of Northwestern we applaud).

5. the stench in the heat of the summer, 1975, from a stadium parking lot turned into a stable for a horse show and not cleaned for days even after the close of the show (a horrible example not typical of Northwestern University's attitude toward the stadium area community).

The 1410 Central Street Corporation members - and, we believe, other residents of the area around the stadium, too — have found Northwestern University a good neighbor. We wish to keep that relationship. The present zoning provides a firm foundation for that relationship.

Sincerely,

1410 CENTRAL STREET CORPORATION

By: Anna Dymczynski , President

John Hunt, EMS Coordinator for the Evanston Hospital sent a letter to ZAC opposing the proposed zoning changes at Dyche Stadium and McGaw Hall.

The following Pioneer Press articles show the tensions between NU and the City regarding the U2 Ordinance. The conflict started almost immediately after the December 1978 Illinois Supreme court ruling.

1978 Illinois Supreme Court Decision

1979-1980 Debates Re. Ordinance

Pioneer Press - August 9, 1979

Neighbors down NU rezoning

Betty Harper rose from the chairman’s seat at the zoning amendment committee (ZAC) table. She eyed one member of the 200-plus crowd who complained he could not hear the proceedings.

“I’m sorry,” said the five-foot tall chair as loud as she could. “I was born with only so much lung power.”

And with that, Harper opened another hearing in the nine-year series on uses of Northwestern University’s Dyche Stadium and McGAw Hall.

Lung power notwithstanding, Evanston and Wilmette neighbors of Dyche Stadium have heard plenty about plans for bringing the Chicago Bears and other professional teams onto Northwestern Campus.

..., SINCE 1970 when the Bears played the Philadelphia Eagles at Dyche, Evanston and Northwestern have been at odds over the increasing number of events at the complex (see related story).

The latest go-around centers on a proposed zoning amendment which would allow special events at the complex.

The amendment would permit an unspecified number of events, including professional sports, in McGaw Hall (10,000 capacity), an unspecified number of events drawing up to 25,0000 people at Dyche Stadium, and use of the stadium 12 times a year for events drawing up to 55,000 people.

Northwestern will play five football games this fall in Dyche (six in 1981, 1982 and 1984). The stadium is also used for the July 4^th celebration, track meets, amateur soccer and cricket matches.

One apparent reason for the expansion effort is a new Big Ten Conference rule which will cut Northwestern’s football profits. Beginning this season, visiting teams are guaranteed $100,000 of gate receipts.

JOHN PONT, NORTHWESTERN athletic director, said only two or three games in the also four seasons (University of Michigan, Ohio State) drew enough fans for the university to break even under a $100,000 rule. But he denied there is any connection between that apparent profit loss and the expansion drive.

“One doesn’t tie in with the other at all,” he said: Absolutely not.”

At least one opponent of the expansion, however, doubts there is no connection.

“It’s clear that their reason to expand is to make more money,” said Matthias Lydon, an attorney who lives near Dyche Stadium and coordinated the opposition effort.

While Northwestern wrestles with the Big Ten rule, ZAC chairman Harper also warns that the latest zoning plan may hit a constitutional snag. Evanston’s zoning powers only extend to regulating use, not frequency of use.

“we cannot tell them how many hours they can use the stadium,” she said.

HARPER’S QUESTIONS ABOUT the zoning amendments, however, will not officially surface until the committee’s Sept. 6 meeting, when testimony concludes. Any ZAC recommendation must then be approved by the city council.

Meanwhile, Lydon will meet with Northwestern attorneys in an attempt to work out a compromise. He is not optimistic.

“I don’t think there is much flexibility on our part. Our opposition is pretty steadfast with regard to professional sports,” he said. “We haven’t really made the sort of progress that would result in a report.”

That opposition was detailed at ZAC’s Aug. 2 meeting, when Lydon and more than 200 supporters presented the committee with a thick document of evidence and testimony from as far back as 1925, when William Dyche told an Evanston zoning committee that a new stadium would be used only for intercollegiate sports.

TESTIMONY INCLUDED A report from Ward Hersted, Evanston Township assessor, who said traffic, noise and congestion caused by additional events at Dyche would hurt property values in the surrounding neighborhoods.

“There’s a strong probability – not possibility, probability – that property values in the neighborhood would be adversely affected,” he told the committee.

Hersted also said additional events would create doubt in the minds of homeowners about the benefits of upkeep and rehabilitation of older homes, when property values are unsteady. That doubt could result in less upkeep, he said.

Hersted called housing “Evanston’s greatest capital investment” and said keeping neighborhoods healthy should be a top priority.

Ald. David Burden (7^th) told the committee that neighbors have had an antagonistic relationship with Northwestern because of problems surrounding crowds at Dyche Stadium.

“THIS CURRENT PROCEEDING is just an extension of that feeling.” Burden said. “The break of 25,000 and 55,000 (in the amendment) is just a gimmick to get what they’ve wanted all along.”

The alderman also warned that traffic control made necessary by expanded use and would tax police capabilities to handle crime. He also said the ill-defined proposal would allow Northwestern to schedule any event it wanted, despite assurances that professional sports would not be regular fare.

“Frankly, their past record does not inspire confidence,” he said.

Wilmette officials also spent a letter to ZAC outlining their opposition to expansion of Dyche uses.

Unlike Evanston, which benefits from a 6 percent tax on athletic events, Wilmette receives no income from Northwestern activities.

“WILMETTE AND ITS residents can only be losers in any changes in zoning,” wrote Village Atty. Robert Mangler.

Lydon in his testimony also showed aerial photographs of traffic jams, and photographs of the recent disco demolition fracas at Comiskey Park. He also submitted testimony from an expert on sports crowds, who said behavior worsens inside stadiums.

At an earlier ZAC meeting, Northwestern officials said property values will not be affected by expanded use of Dyche and McGaw.

Northwestern officials said by creating a new university district zone, they could emanate applying for variances under special use provisions. Officials also said they would prohibit professional sports on a regular basis.

Below is a recount of the events leading to the 1978 Supreme Court Decision.

Spotlight corrected the mistake regarding the Appellate Court decision, and also highlighted the passage that describes the renewed discussions about the U2 ordinance.

Pioneer Press - August 9, 1979

City-NU dispute started in 1970

The argument between Northwestern University and the City of Evanston over the use of the school’s Dyche Stadium-McGaw Hall sports complex began in the summer of 1970.

On July 6 the city council voted 9-9 to turn down a proposed to allow the Chicago Bears to play the Philadelphia Eagles in Dyche Stadium that fall. No zoning variation previously had been sought for the contest.

At the hearing, Bears owner George Halas indicated that the Eagles game were successful, it could lead to a five-year contract between the Bears and Northwestern to play all homes games in Dyche.

THE BEARS FILED suit on July 21 in Cook County Circuit Court, seeking an injunction against the City of Evanston and Northwestern to force both to allow the Eagles game to be played on Sept. 27.

(The action came on the heels of the city council voting 9-8 the previous night to allow the Bears to use the stadium.)

Lease agreements had been made previous February, and the Big Ten had given approval of the game on Dec. 12, 1969.

On July 27, Evanston filed a counter-suit before Circuit Court Judge Charles R. Barrett. Jack Siegel, Evanston’s corporation counsel, asked the judge to declare Evanston’s Zoning Ordinance constitutional.

WILMETTE ALSO ENTERED the case, claiming “it would suffer irreparable harm if the game would be played.”

Ruling on both the Bear’s and Evanston’s suits was postponed on July 28.

Two days after Barrett denied a motion to refuse the bear’s bid for an injunction to force the game, holding that the Bears had proven their case in the absence of evidence from Evanston.

Don H. Reuben, attorney for the Bears claimed that Dyche and McGaw had previously been used for commercial purposes.

On July 31, George Halas admitted in court that the team had been attempting to make Dyche Stadium its permanent home.

ON AUG. 11, BARRETT ruled that Evanston’s interpretation of its zoning ordinance was unconstitutional. The suit technically dealt with the single game. Barrett’s ruling said:

“ the City of Evanston relies on the prohibition in its zoning ordinance of use for ‘commercial purposes.’ Considering all the evidence, this court cannot characterize professional football as more or less commercial as college football.

“Football is football; gross receipts and operating expenses, pro or college, equate with money and whether any profit, if any, goes into a fund to support other athletic activities – profitable or unprofitable – or into a corporation or foundation treasury does not distinguish the basic character of one from the other.

“Accordingly, I find that the interpretation... as it applies to professional football, is unreasonable, arbitrary and discriminatory and its application untenable.”

THE GAME WAS PLAYED Sept. 27 with 53,613 in attendance. Evanston canceled days off for 50 policemen, while police shifts in Skokie and Wilmette were beefed up to handle the added Sunday traffic.

The Evanston Chamber of Commerce gave full support to the promotion of the Bears Eagle game, writing letters to Dyche Stadium area residents (Evanston and Wilmette) to assure the game was a good thing.

On Feb. 23, 1971, the Bears and Northwestern entered into a five-year lease for the NFL team to play all games in Dyche Stadium. It was signed before getting any official approval from the City of Evanston or the Big Ten.

Northwestern subsequently went to the city to obtain a variation of the zoning restrictions.

DURING THE MARCH 1971 meetings of the Big Ten, the Bears move into Dyche Stadium was quashed.

The conference, on March 9, denied Northwestern’s request to allow the Bears to play in its stadium, which was estimated to be a $2.2 million boot to Northwestern over the five year life of the lease.

Northwestern requested a special meeting of the Big Ten on March 21 to reconsider its denial, reducing its five-year request to three years.

At the time, Northwestern was announcing a $1.6 million deficit in the school’s (not athletic) general fund. The petition to reconsider was denied.

COURT CONFRONTATIONS continued again in 1975 when Northwestern filed suit on Sept. 6 against Evanston seeking a judgement against Evanston’s zoning ordinance.

The school and the Chicago Bills announced later that same day the scheduling of an Oct. 18 preseason NBA game between the Bulls and the Milwaukee Bucks in McGaw Hall, an announcement which was made prior to notifying the city of the contract.

The game was later canceled.

Evanston subsequently served notice on Northwestern that if the university allows professional athletic contests to be played on its campus, the school could expect to fund all its Evanston property not directly used for educational purposes on the tax rolls.

THAT INTENT WAS listed in a counter-claim filed Sept. 16 in response to the Sept. 6 Northwestern suit.

The counter-suit also called for a court declaration upholding the city’s zoning ordinance in conjunction with a request for a temporary restraining order against the Bulls-Bucks basketball game.

(Northwestern claimed in 1973 that it owned 252 acres in property in Evanston, 90 percent of which were used for educational purposes. Approximately 40 percent of Evanston land is tax exempt.)

Northwestern had been forced to cancel a Virginia Slims Women’s Tennis Tournament in February 1975 because of the zoning constrictions.

NORTHWESTERN APPLIED in January 1976 for a variation of the zoning ordinance to permit Dyche and McGaw “to be used for professional and amateur athletic contests, 4^th of July shows, circuses, carnivals, home shows, horse shows, speeches by notable persons, meetings, convocations, commencements, entertainments, expositions and exhibitions on property located in a U2 University District.”

Prior to an April 20 hearing on the variation, Northwestern filed a suit against the city on April 19 asking that the zoning ban be declared unconstitutional.

In the meantime, Northwestern had scheduled a June 13, 1976, professional soccer game in Dyche Stadium between the Chicago Sting and the Philadelphia Atoms. The university had asked for an injunction to allow the game. The game was subsequently cancelled.

In related court action on April 12, an Evanston couple filed suit against Northwestern, the city and the Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, seeking a permanent injunction to prevent the Great American horse Show from performing in McGaw Hall July 13-18. The suit charged that the zoning ordinance prohibited horse shows and the keeping of horses within the city limits. The horse show was cancelled.

EVANSTON's CITY COUNCIL zoning amendments committee turned down the Northwestern variation request on Sept. 2, 1976, by a 7-0 vote, rejected the same request on Sept. 21

Northwestern called no witnesses to testify in support of its variation request and claimed that the ordinance posed an unfair hardship. Its representatives only presented a statement declaring the ordinance unconstitutional.

With no case to consider, the zoning board denied the request. It was later upheld by the city council on a 14-0 vote.

The circuit court suit was filed in April, asking that the ordinance be declared unconstitutional, was dismissed Dec. 21 by Judge Arthur l. Dunne. The judge agreed with the city that the university had failed to exhaust its avenues of administrative appeal through the city’s zoning amendments committee and zoning board of appeals.

DUNNE’S RULING was upheld in appellate court and in December 1978 the Illinois Supreme Court upheld Dunne’s ruling. [Spotlight’s correction: The Appellate Court reversed Dunne’s ruling, and the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the Appellate Court’s ruling]

The university contended before the state supreme court that the ordinance was unconstitutional on its face because it permits the university to maintain athletic facilities but prohibits their use of professional sports or other commercial purposes.

Northwestern further argued that this distinction was inherently arbitrary because it could have no possible relation in an impact on the surrounding neighborhood.

Justice Robert C. Underwood wrote, “That proposition, however, is not self –evident. On the surface at least, there would appear to be substantial difference between the impact of a predictable number of intramural or intercollegiate athletic events and an unpredictable number pf commercial events.”

The court ruled that the university had not exhausted all “local remedies” to redistrict its problem.

AT THIS POINT, Northwestern and the City of Evanston began working on a new ordinance which would open Dyche and McGaw to some professional sport events... the basis for last Thursday’s hearing.

University Vice Pres. Lee Ellis and Mayor James C. Lytle jointly endorsed working towards rewriting the city’s zoning document to avoid further legal battles.

The Chicago Bears were ruled out as a regular Evanston tenant in the approach, except perhaps for an occasional game in Dyche Stadium. Ellis had indicated, in a letter to Lytle, that the university would not pursue professional sports on a “regular” basis.

Dyche Stadium was constructed in 1925-6 by its late athletic director and former Big Ten Commissioner, Kenneth L (Tug) Wilson of Wilmette. It was named after William A. Dyche, former vice president and business manager of the university.

McGaw Hall was built in 1951.

Pioneer Press - August 9, 1979

Big Ten Rule limits pro use of stadiums

Appearances like the Harlem Globetrotters have been frequent campus attractions.

However, the Chicago Sting would not be restricted from playing its championship schedule and/or exhibition schedule in Northwestern’s Dyche Stadium.

The Big Ten does not have soccer as an official conference sport, although most Big Ten schools participate in collegiate soccer on a varsity sports or club basis.

Northwestern has a club soccer team outside its intercollegiate athletic departments.

Big Tenschools may apply for a waiver of the facilities regulation, as Northwestern did in 1970 and 1971.

The 1870 Bears game Eagles game was approved on a one-time shot basis because the Bears’ home facility, Wrigley Field, was being used for a Chicago Cubs game.

However, Northwestern’s five year lease agreement with the Bears in 1971 was denied.

Kay Schultz

Northwestern, as a member of the Big Ten Conference, is governed as to how it may use its facilities.

“Specifically, a conference facility “may not be utilized, during the period between 10 days preceding, and seven days following the conference season in a sport, for contests or exhibitions by professional sports teams which engage in championship competition in that sport.”

Also restricted are events sponsored or conducted by professional promoters in such areas as professional boxing and wrestling, “which have no remote association with the athletic programs conducted by member universities for the benefit of their student bodies.”

Member schools may use their facilities for tennis or golf exhibitions or contests or for other team demonstrations. Also, high school all-star or out-of-season contests may be made available.

Exhibitions pro football and basketball games have been held at Big Ten schools, outside of the 10-day before and seven-day after restrictions.

Pioneer Press September 6, 1979

ZAC reviews stadium zoning

Will Northwestern University be allowed to expand its use of Dyche Stadium and McGaw Hall?

The Zoning Amendments Committee (ZAC) is expected to make that decision tonight when it meets to consider a proposed zoning change which would allow special events in the complex.

The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the civic center, 21000 Ridge Av.

Any ZAC recommendation must then be approved by the city council.

At the August meeting, Chairman Betty Harper warned that he latest zoning plan could hit a constitutional snag. Evanston’s zoning powers only extend to regulating use, not frequency of use.

“We cannot tell them how many hours they can use the stadium,” Harper said.

Meanwhile, mayor James Lytle met with more than 200 citizens at a public hearing; Aug. 21 at Haven Middle School, Lincoln St. and Prairie Av., to discuss the issue.

The audience was opposed to the mayor’s stand on the zoning revision. Lytle reportedly asked ZAC to review the change in an effort to resolve the conflict between the City of Evanston and the university.

Few came away satisfied since any complained that the mayor was evasive. They did not view the issue as a conflict with the university and said there was no need for revising the ordinance.

The amendment would permit an unspecified number of events, including professional sports, in McGaw Hall (10,000 capacity); an unspecified number of events drawing up to 25,000 people at Dyche Stadium, and use of the stadium 12 times year for events drawing up to 55,000 people.

Opponents of the ordinance change have long said that traffic, noise, and congestion caused by additional events at Dyche would hurt property values.

The title and the first three paragraphs of the following article were "cut-off" on the top section of the paper copy available to Spotlight.

Pioneer Press -September 13, 1979

[...] continue in Dyche debate

[...] with horse [...] is accused by anonymous [...]

[...] City of Evanston-Northwestern [...] expanded use of Dyche Stadium [...] fieldhouse. No one knows who or what [...]

[...] really knows is on Oct. 4, during the next meeting of the City Zoning Amendments Committee (ZAC), [...] kind of compromise will be reached on how far Northwestern can go in using its facilities for more than collegiate football, basketball and a 4^th of July festival or two.

As it now stands, the Pope, Boy Scouts and horse shows would not be allowed into Dyche Stadium without special city approval.

THE HOT-POTATO POLITICAL issue has also drawn in Mayor Jay Lytle, who has been attending recent meetings. He has also been the subject of “scurrilous” –and inaccurate- rumors.

Last Thursday’s ZAC meeting got halfway into a compromise before the 4½ hour debate was adjourned. To balance out the Dyche Stadium neighbors’ request for no expansion of Dyche events with Northwestern’s request for possibly nine or 10 new events annually. ZAC will loosen zoning restrictions on the lakefront campus in exchange for tight control of Dyche activity.

“I have a very optimistic feeling,” said ZAC chairman Betty Harper. “We have some evidence of a middle ground on which we can ferret out something.”

THE COMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY passed a proposal to allow “commercial” events on the lakefront campus, but did not go as far as defining how it will regulate Dyche activity. That definition will be spelled out on Oct. 4, and then sent to the city council for final approval.

Boy and Girl Scout jamboree’s will be a “special use” under a citizen’s proposal for zoning Dyche.

“Will these jamboree’s be local, county, state or national? Asked Wendell Adair, ZAC member.

Most of the controversy centers on what will be “permitted” uses and what are classified as “special.” Special uses must be okayed by the zoning board of appeals (ZBA), and that is usually a three months process.

So if Northwestern wished to have a Girl Scout jamboree at Dyche Stadium, and jamborees are classified as special uses, the university must first get permission from the ZBA. If it were a permitted use, Northwestern could schedule it without going through ZBA.

THE DISTINCTION IS a major point of disagreement between the university and neighbors of the sports complex. A proposal submitted by Matthias Lydon, an attorney who lives near Dyche Stadium, would limit permitted events to collegiate activity: National Collegiate Athletic Assn. (NCAA) events, commencement exercises and intramural sports.

The latest Northwestern proposal is based on attendance, not use. Permitted uses include 10 events per year drawing 20,000 or more persons (no more than three in any month), and six events in the 7,000 to 19,999 range.

According to Northwestern officials, Wildcat home football games are included in the 20,000 or more category, as would the 4^th of July festival. With a five or six game schedule each year, the university is left with three or four openings for big-draw events, plus six smaller ones for a total of nine to 10 vents.

An earlier Northwestern proposal allowed an unspecified number of events at McGaw Hall, an unspecified number of events at Dyche drawing up to 25,0000 people, and use of Dyche 12 times per year for events up to 55,0000 people.

THE REVISION CAME as a result of talks between Northwestern attorney James Perry and Lydon, representing neighbors.

“What about religious evens?” asked ZAC member Craig Cain.

“The Pope?” added Mayor Lytle.

“It certainly wouldn’t be a permitted use,” said Lydon.

ZAC members in October will wrestle with the problem of defining desirable events for Dyche Stadium. Neighbors at ZAC meetings hiss and boo at every mention of the words “rock concerts” and are loath to accept professional sports events.

Perry, however, said the university is interested in only an occasional professional exhibition game, and will not pursue professional sports “on a regular basis. Other events could include international high school track meets, or drum and bugle shows.

But Perry and university officials will not accept an offer to sign a long-term agreement with the city formalizing Northwestern’s stand on attracting professional sports on a regular basis. That possibility came up at ZAC’s last meeting, as an attempt to quiet neighbors’ fears that a full season of Chicago Bear’s games is in the offing. Perry said a letter will go out this week rejecting the offer.

MEANWHILE , ZAC HAS moved half way into a compromise, which may leave Dyche Stadium in virtually the same position. The proposed is a trade off: loosening zoning restrictions on the lakefront campus area while keeping a lock on the sports complex, which is away from the central campus.

The idea is that the central campus is more isolated from residential areas than Dyche. Fewer people will be bothered by crowds and noise by an event in one of the lakefront auditoriums, or on the university beaches.

It was near midnight. ZAC embers had just discovered they could not simply change the definition of the U-3 zone to include “commercial” events. They had not yet considered the university’s proposed U-3 zone for Dyche Stadium, allowing expanded uses.

“What if we create a new U-5 and U-6/” asked board member Adair.

One Northwestern attorney dropped a book onto the chair next to his and threw his hands up in defeat..

During discussion of the proposed new zone, ZAC members considered the effect of possible events, including concerts, professional sports and a circus. The zone was finally passed with no special restrictions on the type of event defined under “commercial.”

“After all this I think we’ll have to hold a public hearing,” said Betty Harper, ZAC chairman.

“This is a public hearing,” said ZAC member Adair.

“Yes, I know,” replied Harper, “but the public can’t talk now.”

While ZAC has been pounding out a compromise, Mayor Lytle has been thrown into the fray. Lytle has found the issue sensitive enough to attend one meeting with neighbors and the most recent ZAC meeting. But his high profile has brought him trouble.

Anonymous residents have alleged that Lytle’s daughter is getting a free ride at Northwestern (she actually attends Indiana University), and that he is up for a) board of trustee’s position or b) a teaching post at the university.

“THESE ARE JUST so incredibly wrong,” Lytle said. It is the first time such rumors have gotten back to him.

Some of the rumors came to the Review in the front of an anonymous, handwritten letter. Lytle said no other issue in his memory has spurred such tricks.

Harper, chairman of ZAC, said no one has alleged anything similar about her or members of the board. She also said whoever began the rumors about Lytle was not familiar with the Dyche issue.

“It wouldn’t do any good to buy Jay off,” she said. “He doesn’t have any influence over the aldermen.”

Pioneer Press - October 11, 1979

ZAC says no to pro events at Dyche

Northwestern University’s effort to expand use of Dyche Stadium and McGaw Hall was dealt its first official blow by the Evanston Zoning Amendments Committee (ZAC) last week.

In an expected move, the committee voted unanimously not to allow professional sports or other commercial events in the sports complex. One member was absent from the committee vote.

But the ZAC package also included a compromise provision allowing expanded commercial and other events on the lakefront campus.

ZAC’s proposal now goes before the city council. A final report on last week’s decision is not expected to reach the city council agenda until December.

At least one alderman said he expects the issue to return to court. In 1977 the university filed suit in circuit court against the city, claiming its zoning prohibitions on Dyche and McGaw were unconstitutional. The court ruled Northwestern lad not exhausted its avenues of administrative appeal and dismissed the case.

The ruling was upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court in December 1978.

Northwestern attorney Mike Weston said the latest ZAC ruling is “entirely unsatisfactory.”

“It absolutely deprives us of any flexibility. It just draws the noose tighter on what we can do,” he said.

ZAC’s proposal includes as permitted uses collegiate athletic contests, practices, intramural games and some high school and other university evens (such as lectures and musical events).

“SPECIAL USE” allowances include community events such as the annual profit uses. Under special use provisions, approval for each vent must be given by the Zoning Board of Appeals and the city council.

Ald. David Burden (7^th), whose ward includes the Dyche Stadium area, said he expects Northwestern to go back to court, once again claiming the zoning ordinance unconstitutional.

“Oh, I know they will,” Burden said, adding that Northwestern was simply exhausting its administrative appeals – as directed by the court – before returning to litigation.

“I regret that a member of the council thinks litigation will occur and that another solution cannot be reached,” Northwestern’s Weston said.

Burden also said the university had not tried to negotiate a compromise with the city without being told to do so by the courts.

“I AM FIRMLY in support of university uses that are National Collegiate Athletic Assn. or collegiate in nature,” Burden said. “But I get very nervous when they try to branch out.”

Burden also said it is possible the Fourth of July Festival could be in trouble if neighbors objected strongly enough. Under the ZAC plan, with the festival as a special use, the Zoning Board of Appeals and city council could deny permission for the fireworks.

Ald. John Allen (7^th) said he might be willing to expand some uses of McGaw Hall, provided it did not disturb the neighborhood.

“But Dyche Stadium is one case where I don’t think you can have anything besides collegiate football and the Fourth of July Festival without doing terrible things to the neighborhood,” Allen said.

Spotlight is missing p. 18, the end of the article below.

Pioneer Press - October 16, 1980

Committee gets started on review of NU zoning

In beginning consideration of a full review of university zoning districts in Evanston, the city Council’s planning and development (P&D) committee Monday embarked on a wary journey through the dark waters of six years of argument, protest court action and delay.

Six years was the time it took for the zoning amendment committee (ZAC) to wade through those same waters and come up with recommendations to the council for zoning changes in the areas surrounding Northwestern University. Now, ZAC has shifted its burden, condensed into a 30-page report accompanied by 1,300 pages of transcripts and exhibits, to the P&D committee.

The P&D committee will spend the next few weeks, or months, considering those recommendations, which include some new limits on what can be allowed in areas between the university and residential neighborhoods, a relaxation of zoning restrictions on the university’s lakefill campus, and prohibition of some controversial proposed uses of Northwestern’s Dyche Stadium and McGaw Hall.

P&D WAS SERVED notice Monday that it will hear objections to those recommendations, both from the university officials and from neighbors of Dyche and McGaw.

Michael C. Weston, Northwestern attorney, told the committee the university would object to the restrictions proposed and didn’t even want the expanded freedom that ZAC proposed to give the university on the landfill.

Weston said he expected the major bones of contention to be in the areas surrounding Dyche and McGaw, as has been the case for several years, and in the U2 zoning districts, which were created in 1960 to serve as buffer between the university and the neighborhoods.

He told the committee that the U2 requirements had served the buffer purpose adequately, and changing them would unfairly change the terms of a deal struck between the city and the university, after the university has proceeded under these terms for 20 years.

WESTON SAID AFTER the meeting that he expected it to take “some weeks” before the university could present the P&D committee with tis written response to the ZAC report.

From the other side, attorney Matt Lydon also spoke to the committee, saying he represented Dyche Stadium neighbors who opposed any change at all in zoning regarding the stadium. He said he would present petitions and a more detailed response from the neighbors at a later meeting.

Ald. John Allen (7^th), who will chair P&D’s deliberations on this issue, suggested (continued on page 18) [...]