Wilmette 1970- 1996

1970's

In 1970 The Village of Wilmette was permitted to intervene as a defendant in the suit by the Chicago Bears against the City of Evanston and Northwestern University.

In the Appellate court Wilmette acted as "Intervenor-Defendant-Appellant". See:

Illinois Appellate Court

Below is the PDF and transcription of a 1970 letter by a Wilmette resident and Evanston businessman impacted by events at Dyche Stadium, asking the City of Evanston to stop NU's proposal for a U2 zoning change.

June 12, 1970

Re: Case #18-70-A (NU Appeal for Change of U2 Zoning for Dyche Stadium)

Gentlemen:

The writer is

• (a) an Evanston property owner (rental apartments within one block of Dyche Stadium.)

• (b) an Evanston business man (president of Alllcities Allstates Flowers-by-Tele-Phone, Inc. with national office two blocks from Dyche).

• (c) a Wilmette resident and homeowner living just two blocks from the stadium).

I would present my request in person at the hearing but for my absence from the city, so this letter is to request that you deny the above captioned appeal because the proposed commercial use of Dyche Stadium will:

• (1) attract to our neighborhood a substantial number of undesirable persons who are certain to increase

(A) Vandalism

(B) Burglaries

(C) Assaults

(D) Noise.

• (2) create new auto traffic that will

(A) congest our streets and at times actually deprive us of their use;

(B) increase air pollution;

(C) endanger the lives of local residents and their children.

A much longer detailed indictment could be drawn, including the charge that the requested use will depreciate our property values. However, monetary concerns should be secondary to human rights, so let it suffice that in this day of your expressed concern for environmental control, it would be a sad action for you to permit the proposed abuse of our living area.

Because the welfare of all residents is your paramount responsibility, I request that you stand with decency against the greed that gives rise to the Northwestern appeal.

With kindest regards,

Sincerely, Thomas J. O'Brien

418 Gregory Wilmette

The above letter is a relevant document to the issue of PRECEDENT, an issue discussed elsewhere on Spotlight. Once you amend the language of the Evanston ordinance to allow professional and/or commercial events at one U2 District site, then in effect, you have created a radically different ordinance, one that allows events that were previously prohibited. You are creating a legal precedent for NU to apply for and thus obtain similar text amendments or special uses in other U2 venues or U Districts. If Evanston should refuse to allow further Code modifications in this regard, then NU has a legal opening, based on PRECEDENT to bring a lawsuit against the City of Evanston, as they did in the 1970's.

In 1975 (September or October?), Wilmette joined Evanston in the Circuit Court law suit to support Evanston's zoning regulations. The case was in response to NU's intention of hosting a Bulls game at Dyche Stadium. See:

Circuit & Appellate Court Cases

Below is the February 11, 1976 letter from the Village of Wilmette to the Evanston Zoning Board of Appeals.

1980's

During the March 16, 1982 Evanston City meeting, re. ZBA 81-48-Su(R), Bill Rotolo, Director of Community Development for the Village of Wilmette stated:

I'm here to represent the Village Board of the Village of Wilmette. No one from the Village Board could be here tonight because they are having their regular meeting tonight. I am here presenting a resolution passed by our Village Board on February 16. It's Resolution 82-R-13. I believe you have been sent a copy.

Resolution 82-R-13, whereas the Village of Wilmette at the request of its residents has consistently opposed the expansion of the use of Dyche stadium and McGaw Hall facilities for commercial uses due to the impact on the single-family residents, and whereas the Village has opposed the expansion of use because of the additional and uncompensated burden on Village fire, police and municipal services, and whereas the Village has joined the City of Evanston in litigation to defend the zoning regulations of the area, and whereas there are many - as many single-family residences in Wilmette in close proximity to the stadium property as there are in Evanston, and whereas the Village has been advised that the University seeks a special use permit for a "musical performance" on an unspecified day in May with an anticipated attendance of twenty-five thousand. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the President and Board of Trustees of the Village of Wilmette, Cook County, Illinois, that the Village of Wilmette continues to oppose the use of University facilities at Dyche Stadium and McGaw Hall for anything other than the scholastic programs and school athletics for which they were designed and intended, and be it further resolved that it is the determination of the Board that any such expansion is detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens and residents of the Village of Wilmette, many of whom are adjacent to or in close proximity to the University facilities, and be it further resolved that the Board of Trustees on behalf of the Village of Wilmette objects to the granting of a special use to Northwestern University In the City of Evanston's Zoning Board of Appeals' case 81-48-SU(R). Signed by Stan Kennedy, Village Clerk, February 16, 1982.

1981-2 Concert - Citizens Zoning Committee of Evanston

February 12, 1996 Special Use notification for NU's Ameritech proposal

To apply for a Special Use in the U2 area, the Evanston code required NU to notify neighbors within 500' of the venue. This notice includes Wilmette residents. They have a right to speak at the Plan Commission but have no voice on other city committees.

89 notices were delivered to Wilmette in 1996, and they represented 22.8% of the 390 notices delivered to Evanston and Wilmette. (415 notices were delivered in total, and 24 included other locations across the U.S.)

• 1996 NU-Amreritech Pro-Tennis Proposal

1990's

A 1996 letter re. littering from NU games

August 27, 1996

To: Mr. C. William Fischer Vice President, Business and Finance Northwestern University

Dear Mr. Fischer,

As you're preparing for the next NU football season, I thought I'd alert you to a problem that emerged last year.

My family lives .....[near] the corner of Isabella and Dupee, just a block east of the northernmost end of the NU athletic complex. For the two years that we have lived here, we have noticed a consistent problem with trash blowing down Isabella from unkempt containers on the fields. This is an annoyance year-round, but is dramatically worse in the fall. For instance, we have seen overturned trash cans left for a couple of days after a game, with dirty paper waste of all sorts left to the wind. This is even worse when porta-potties are set up on the corner of the baseball field and improperly attended to. On one memorable occasion, I and a neighbor were horrified to find used sanitary napkins littering my front yard. It took us 20 minutes to track them all down and pull them out of the bushes.

I would appreciate it if you would let me know what changes will be made in the after-game and event cleanup procedures, and ongoing maintenance at the baseball field.

Sincerely,

Joanne Cleaver

cc: Silvia Kusaka, North Evanston Watch; Jeff Freeman, NU Athletic Facilities Director