1995-2019 Shuttles & Parking Issues

In the 90's too, the East and West parking lots did not have enough parking spaces for the people attending events in the U2 District.

The City tried a solution to relieve parking congestion in the surrounding neighborhood: shuttles.

Attendees to U2 events would park on the Lake campus or downtown and take shuttles to the U2.

[emphasis added on the next two city memos]

August 31, 1995 Director of Public Works and City Traffic Engineer memo

Transcription of introductory page (emphasis added)] and PDF

CITY OF EVANSTON

CITY COUNCIL MEMORANDUM

August 31, 1995

TO: Eric A. Anderson, City Manager

FROM: David H. Barber, Director of Public Works

David C. Jennings, City Traffic Engineer

SUBJECT: Traffic and Parking Plan for Northwestern Football Games

The proposed traffic and parking plan for the Northwestern University football games is attached for your review. There are six home games this year, starting with Miami of Ohio on September 16, Air Force on September 23, and Indiana on September 30. A two week break follows this series of home games. The next home game is Wisconsin on October 21, which is the only one in October. Penn State is here November 4, followed by Iowa on November 11. The largest crowd will probably be Wisconsin with the first two games probably having the least attendance.

As you know, the golf course board elected not to allow parking on the course this year. Northwestern has secured 600 replacement spaces within walking distance to the stadium in the 1000 Central Medical Building garage and in the lot at the COS building. Also, shuttle buses will be used to transport fans from several remote lots which are on campus and from the two City owned garages in the downtown. For the first few games, we will only use the Church Street Self Park, because we do not believe the size of the crowd will require the use of both facilities.

This plan is flexible and we will make adjustments as needed to move people in and out of the stadium area as well as in and out of the City. Adjustments can be made on game day (such as eliminating traffic direction at intersections where it is not necessary, or adding officers at other locations) and between games (such as revising parking restrictions, if it becomes necessary). As you review the parking restrictions described in the plan, please note that the kickoff is assumed to be 1:00 pm. This time can change due to TV coverage. When this happens, the parking restrictions are changed to reflect the new starting time.

We will be available at the Council meeting to discuss this plan.

David H. Barber Director of Public Works David C. Jennings City Traffic Engineer

cc: Mayor and Alderman

July 16, 1996 City Traffic Engineer memo re. football parking

Transcription (emphasis added) and PDF

CITY OF EVANSTON

CITY COUNCIL MEMORANDUM

DATE: July 16. 1996

TO: David H. Barber, Director of Public Works

FROM: David C. Jennings, City Traffic Engineer

SUBJECT: Residential Parking Near Dyche Stadium for NU Events

Alderman Engelman, City staff (Traffic Engineer and Assistant Traffic Engineer), and Jack Freeman from NU met with representatives of the residential neighborhood and business community near the stadium on Wednesday, June 26. The purpose of the meeting was to hear from the neighbors near the stadium and find out what measures they believed would give them relief from the problems they are experiencing as a result of games at Dyche stadium.

We found that the neighbors would like to have the area bounded by Green Bay Road, the canal, and Isabella Street to be designated as a residents only parking district for football games, men's basketball games, and any graduation held at the stadium or the arena. The district is requested to be a tow-away zone so that all violators can be towed. They would prefer a system that allows future events which cause similar parking problems to be added the program.

Staff outlined the current traffic and parking plan for NU games (presented to and approved by Council in August 1995) and explained some of the adjustments to the plan which were made as we gained experience with it. We also talked about changes which would probably be proposed for the 1996 season, such as adding a shuttle bus stop on Isabella to reduce congestion and safety problems with the single stadium stop on Central. The discussion included matters not related to parking and the shuttle bus system, such as traffic control.

We agreed to try to develop a plan for accomplishing the neighborhood's objectives and to return to them at a future meeting. Staff has met to discuss how such a program would be implemented and will have some options prepared for the next meeting which is scheduled for July 31. Some of the options need input from the Legal Department, so we are not ready to discuss them at this point. Our goal is to have the costs of each option, as well as the "pro's and con's" of each one ready for the meeting on the 31st. We could then bring the matter to the Committee at the August meeting for review and discussion.

David C. Jennings

cc: Alderman Engelman

July 22, 1996 City Council meeting

Residents discussed a traffic and parking committee to relieve traffic congestion. They objected to the "noise, pollution, congestion and safety hazards created by the [shuttle] buses".

The Council, again , extended the time allotted to Citizen Comment.

Below are the City summaries of some residents' comments, and further below, the PDF of the Council meeting.

JULY 22, 1996 Council Citizen Comment

Peggy Tarr, 1131 Elmwood Avenue, Chair of Nichols Neighbors, said that some neighbors in that area were frustrated with the responses from City officials and staff to their concerns about the change in the traffic flow at Maple and Dempster. They wondered why they had not been notified of the proposed change before a final decision was made. At a July 9th meeting neighbors were told that the signage would be left in place for six months to a year in order to allow the impact to be evaluated. Those in attendance at that meeting thought the major cause of accidents at that comer was the speed at which cars travel on Dempster. She also noted that cars speed through alleys in the area, creating a safety risk. The neighbors felt that all attempts to slow down traffic In alleys bad been met with a variety of road blocks from the City and wondered why there appeared to be such resistance. She could not understand why speed bumps, speed limit signs or striping of walkways at intersections could not be tried. She said that the neighbors wanted to work with City staff and officials for the betterment of their neighborhood.

Debbie Hillman. 1146 Oak Avenue, also a member of Nichols Neighbors, supported Ms. Tarr's comments and said that the issue had been distorted in a recent newspaper article. She said that the neighborhood was only informed about the change after the sign bad been erected and a week later they found out that the police department had not been informed either, although the Traffic Department said such a notice had been sent. She questioned why neighborhood traffic patterns had not been studied before the sign was erected. She also questioned why some places had speed bumps if they are such a liability as she had been told.

Carol Wells, 2650 Eastwood Avenue, said that after the Council vote on the tennis tournament, she and her neighbors had been encouraged to continue working to seek relief from the negative impact felt by the surrounding neighborhood due to the use of Dyche Stadium and McGaw Hall. Now they have formed North Evanston Watch (NEW) and a traffic and parking committee. The committee met with Alderman Engelman, Traffic Engineers David Jennings and Tom Twigg and NU's Jack Freeman. They discussed parking options and shuttle busses. The neighbors are not happy with the new shuttle bus system that had been designed to relieve traffic congestion and objected to "the noise, pollution, congestion and safety hazards created by the busses." In response to the neighbors' complaints, the Traffic Engineering Department proposed another route. She also objected to that route and said that certain streets were not designed to carry that sort of traffic. She said that the neighborhood is a mess on game days. She quoted the Comprehensive General Plan and said that Jackson, Eastwood and Asbury were "local streets" designed to carry cars directly to property and were not designed to handle heavy traffic. She did not believe that tea shuttle busses and trolleys from the downtown area driving on those streets could be considered "relief" from traffic congestion. She said that the neighbors did not find the shuttle bus plan acceptable and would do whatever they could to get the busses back on the major streets, the collector streets and the distributor streets. She announced that the next meeting concerning this would be on July 31 and if the issue is not resolved to the neighbors' satisfaction, they will be back to Council.

Jim Lynch, 2438 Jackson Avenue, distributed maps of various traffic plans. He described what he expected to be the first day of the Northwestern football season, with the din of shuttle busses passing by his house for five hours on that day. He said that when he bought his house, he was aware that there would be traffic congestion and that he would be able to hear noise from the stadium, but did not know that the stadium noise would be drowned out by noise made by shuttle busses. He noted that both his alderman and the traffic engineer know of his complaints. He wanted to make sure that this problem is resolved before the first game is played this fall. Alderman Newman asked what is the City Council's role, if any, in the designation of these shuttle routes. He asked whether the staff would report to Council on them, and if so, at what point in time. He also made a reference to the Committee of the Whole to study the issue of speed bumps. He thought he remembered a memorandum on speed bumps and asked staff to get information as to what surrounding communities are using speed bumps, since we decided not to use them.

Judy Berg. 2510 Jackson Avenue, said that she did not wish to be redundant, but wanted to impress upon Council that the number one concern of the neighbors is safety. She noted that the busses run for six hours on football Saturdays. She said that there are thirty-plus children who can't go out of their yards on those days. She reported that she had made five attempts, including calling the police, to get the busses to slow down. She was surprised to read in the Evanston Review last year what a success the shuttle bus plan was. She reiterated that safety was the first concern and she supported everything that NEW was doing.

1st Ward Alderman comment on the shuttle traffic problem

Alderman Newman asked what is the City Council'role, if any, in the designation of these shuttle routes. He asked whether the staff would report to Council on them, and if so, at what point in time. He also made a reference to the Committee of the Whole to study the issue of speed bumps. He thought he remembered a memorandum on speed bumps and asked staff to get information as to what surrounding communities are using speed bumps, since we decided not to use them.

in 2018, The Daily Northwestern published the following article re. parking in the student campus

Plan Commission recommends modifying Northwestern parking requirements to standing committee

February 22, 2018

Members of the Plan Commission voted at a meeting Wednesday night to recommend a decrease in the number parking spaces Northwestern is required to have, opening the way for the city to use the lot east of Kemper Hall.

Based on the amount of parking spaces available on the Evanston campus and the amount of spaces actually used by students, staff, faculty and visitors, the commission unanimously voted to recommend the Planning and Development committee decrease the number of parking spaces mandated by the city. Under the proposed changes, NU will give the city permission to use the parking lot east of Kemper Hall.

A current ordinance states that NU should have one parking space per five residents of dormitories, fraternities and sororities living on-campus and one per three employees. The revised amendment would change this number to one space for every 10 residents but would leave the number for employees the same.

Currently the university has 4,111 parking spaces on its Evanston campus. Under current zoning ordinance, the city requires the university to have 4,096 spaces, but several commission members raised concern with these numbers, saying it double-counts students who live on campus.

The amendment comes as NU and the city are working on a plan to renovate the city’s water reservoir at the intersection of Lincoln Street and Campus Drive. The University and the city are co-applicants for this amendment.

Assistant city manager Erika Storlie said the city needs this space since, because of the renovations at the Evanston water reservoir across the street, they will lose about 140 parking spaces at the building.

“Without our need for this requirement to be reduced, we would not be having this conversation,” she said.

The city’s neighborhood and land use planner, Meagan Jones, said these ordinances were created when Evanston was still home to other colleges and universities, including Kendall College and National Louis University. She said since Northwestern is the only university in Evanston today, the ordinance is out of date.

The commission also pointed to a study the University conducted in 2015 that showed parking utilization rates at peak hours still produced a surplus of 1,161 spaces.

Jones also noted that there are 492 NU students — who are either seniors or graduate students — living in residential dorms, sororities and fraternities that are eligible for a parking passes, but only 30 students actually have them.

“This (new) requirement would still provide more parking than the 1-to-16 ratio of students who have parking permits to those who are eligible to obtain parking permits,” Jones said.

The proposed amendment would reduce the number of required spaces to 3,493. The commission said the amendments would also aid in future construction projects at NU.

City staff wrote in a memo that the proposal was working towards a goal of balancing institutional needs and the quality of surrounding neighborhoods.

The amendment will now move to the Planning and Development Committee for discussion and approval.

2019 May correspondence re. shuttles

Band day : A casepoint in bad NU traffic management

2016-19 Wilmette: Noise and Traffic impact