Wilmette Resolution to Evanston's proposed zoning changes

8/8/2023: Wilmette Village unanimously approves a resolution objecting to Evanston’s zoning changes allowing outdoor concerts at Ryan Field.

The President of the Wilmette Board of Trustees will be asking Evanston's Land Use Commission to deny the rezoning required to allow concerts and other commercial events.

Wilmette Village President Senta Plunkett stated: “Through this resolution we are sending a clear message to Northwestern University, that commercializing education and athletic facilities … to drive profits is wholly unacceptable.”

For the last nine months  Wilmette residents have been voicing their objections and concerns about noise, traffic and safety issues , and their Village heeded their concerns.

Below: Recommended Motion by Wilmette Manager 

Below: Unsigned Wilmette resolution 

On July 12, 2023, before the Wilmette resolution was submitted, the Village Manager sent Evanston Manager the following:

In view of the scant acoustical  Interwest review , a group of Wilmette residents have collectively hired on their own the acoustics consultant Arup,  to complete a sound study 

Below includes that review

8/22/2023 Wilmette chamber does not endorse former president’s Ryan Field comments

On Aug 8, during the Public Comment at the Wilmette Board meeting, Charles Hutchinson introduced himself as the president of the Wilmette Chamber of Commerce and then supported NU's proposals, claiming  it would bring business to the Village.

Soon after, Hutchinson resigned as Chamber Bboard President.

The new chamber officials said the organization never discussed the issue of Ryan Field events.

"Mr. Hutchinson's comments....did not represent the views of the Wilmette/kenilworth Chamber of Commerce."

Below are the comments by Senta Plunkett at the 9/6/23 Evanston Land Use Commission meeting. (Video transcript)

3:25:13 Plunkett: Thank you Jerry. As Jerry said, we're here on behalf of the Wilmette Board of Trustees and the residents of Wilmette to object to Northwestern's University proposed Text Amendment, specifically the concerts at Ryan Field. Included in your Agenda materials was the Village of Wilmette Resolution 2023-R-115 objecting to the Ryan Field concerts. This resolution was adopted unanimously by the Wilmette Village Board on August 8th with overwhelming support from Wilmette residents most directly impacted by the Proposal.

While the Applicant has recently reduced the number of proposed concerts from 10 to 6, the Village of Wilmette remains steadfast in its opposition to any number of concerts in the middle of a residential neighborhood. The reduction in concerts does not change the very real and very significant impacts concerts of this magnitude will have upon both of our communities. We have studied this project for the past nine months, and do not see how this venue, in this residential neighborhood can successfully manage the traffic, the parking, the noise, and the public safety impacts of such -such mega-concerts.

Since the 1970s, the village of Wilmette, along with the City of Evanston, has consistently objected to the commercialization of the NU Athletic Campus. The City of Evanston and the Village of Wilmette have enjoyed a partnership that served to protect the residents of both communities from such commercialization. The Athletic Campus was designed for a narrowly intended purpose to serve Northwestern University programs and School Athletics, a use in which Wilmette has and continues to support. However, the inclusion of for-profit music concerts as a requirement to a new stadium betrays the long-standing purpose and operation of the Athletic Campus, and is simply A Bridge Too Far.

The proposed 28,500-person outdoor venue would be among the four largest concert venues in the state of Illinois. You talked about Ravinia; last week I attended a sold-out Ravinia concert in Highland Park, and I have to tell you, there's no comparison between the two. While Ravinia's capacity is less than 50% of what is proposed at Ryan Field, it has significantly more on-site parking capacity, significant close parking capacity, proximate access to I-94, a Metra stop within the park itself, and in terms of traffic, operates a lot more like a football game with concert goers arriving and leaving over the course of a much longer time span. Moreover, it has been in operation as a concert venue for more than 100 years. When a family moves into the Ravinia neighborhood in Highland Park, they know exactly what they're buying into. Here, in this case, none of our constituents, mine or yours, could have ever envisioned living next to a 28,500-person concert-venue. Anyone who has attended a large outdoor concert, think Northerly Island or the Credit Union One Amphitheater in Tinley Park, immediately understands that the noise and traffic impacts, both vehicular and pedestrian, are astounding! The concerts will of course be fun for attendees, but they will undoubtedly impose an unfair burden on those who are unfortunate enough to live near the Athletic Campus, a burden which cannot be rectified by financial contributions from the Applicant. Ultimately, in our review of the application material, we fail to see how such adverse impacts can be appropriately and satisfactorily mitigated.

We're usually sitting in seats a little bit more like yours, and as elected officials who routinely consider Land Use applications, the first ask - the first question we always ask ourselves is: is this application reasonable? And would the average person find this application to be reasonable? In the case of concerts at Ryan Field, we've tried to see the reasonableness of this request, and we simply cannot do so. Given the unreasonable nature of this request, the Village of Wilmette urges you to recommend denying the components of the proposed Text Amendment which would permit such concerts, as well as any amplified sound in the plazas surrounding the new football stadium. I want to thank you for thoughtfully considering the impacts of the concerts upon the more than 500 Wilmette households adjacent to the Athletic Campus, and thank you for all your dedication this evening. I can tell how much you've put into this, and how hard it is, and I don't envy you in your shoes, but I know what it's like. So, thank you.