2023 EVANSTON COMMITTEES and BOARDS

2023 Land Use Commission (2019 title: Plan Commission)

Ensuring the public health, safety, comfort, morals, convenience, general welfare, and the objectives and policies of the Comprehensive General Plan

Purpose: The Land Use Commission is made up of volunteer community members who help provide for planning the future development and redevelopment of the Municipality as authorized by Division 12 of the Illinois Municipal Code, 65 ILCS 5/11-12-4 et seq, hear and decide major variations from provisions of the Zoning Ordinance, hear and decide appeals, hear and make recommendations to the Planning and Development Committee and City Council on applications for certain major variations, all special use permits including planned developments, and applications for map amendments and text amendments to the Zoning Ordinance.

For reference, Ordinance 92-O-21 codifying this Commission is available online.

Additional information can be found in the  Land Use Commission Rules & Procedures.

Nine (9) Regular members appointed by Mayor plus non-voting associate members appointed by the Land Use Commission. Chair elected by members from membership 

STAFF: Meagan Jones, Interim Planning Manager: 847-448-8170 mmjones@cityofevanston.org

CITY COUNCIL LIAISON:

Plan Commission Members: The Land Use Commission is made up of nine members. Current members include: 

• Myrna Arevalo (Term End: 9/28/2023, 2nd term)

• George Halik (Term End: 3/22/2025, 2nd term)

• Brian Johnson (Term End: 12/9/2023, 1st term)

• Jeanne Lindwall (Term End: 7/12/2024, 1st term)

• Kiril Mirintchev (Term End: 12/13/2025, 2nd term)

• Max Puchtel (Term End: 9/9/2023, 1st term)

• Matt Rodgers (Term End: 3/22/2025, 1st term) - Chairman

• Kristine Westerberg (Term End: 7/12/2024, 1st term)

Communication related to pending matters before the Land Use Commission should be directed to the City’s Law Department and/or Community Development staff or the comment forms linked above to be forwarded to Commission members. 

Archived materials from Plan Commission can be found here

Archived materials from Zoning Board of Appeals can be found here

The Land Use Commission [LUC] is not a deciding board. Their vote is a recommendation, albeit a strong one.

After LUC, in the case of a text amendment proposal, the next board to discuss the issue is the Planning and Development Board. If they should decide not to pass the proposal, the issue dies there. But generally that does not happen, and the Plan Development just pushes the issue further down the line to the Council, usually on the same night the issue is introduced. Generally the issue is decided on a subsequent council meeting, generally two weeks later, unless a special council meeting is called, as it happened in 1996. In 2019 matters take very little deliberation to be decided, so it's possible to have a decision in place within two weeks or less, from the time it  is introduced at Council. 

2023 Planning & Development Committee

https://cityofevanston.civicweb.net/portal/members.aspx?id=24

This Committee addresses matters relating to planning, physical development, zoning, building conservation, preservation, housing, and relocation. The Committee shall review and advise the City Council on the use and planning of all City park land.

# OF MEMBERS: Seven (7) Councilmembers The chair-person changes on a periodical basis.

TERM for 2021 Planning & Development Committee council members: ends May 9, 2025

MEETING SCHEDULE: Before regular Council Meetings, 6:30 p.m.

MEETING PLACE: Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, James C. Lytle Council Chambers - Room 2800

REPORTS TO: City Council

STAFF:  Sarah Flax Director of Community Development Term: Aug 17 2022 - Aug 17 2025 847-448-8684 sflax@cityofevanston.org  

AGENDAS AND MINUTES 

Members (they are some of the Council members):

Clare Kelly - 1st Ward   224-612-2008  ckelly@cityofevanston.org

Melissa Wynne - 3rd Ward   mwynne@cityofevanston.org 

Jonathan Nieuwsma   - 4th Ward 773-255-0716  jnieuwsma@cityofevanston.org   current chair

Bobby Burns, Chair - 5th Ward  Cell: 847-766-5871 / Office: 224-714-2184 bburns@cityofevanston.org

Eleanor Revelle - 7th Ward   312.459.0644 erevelle@cityofevanston.org

Devon Reid -  8th Ward 872-203-4291  dreid@cityofevanston.org

 Juan Geracaris  - 9th Ward   847-868-2197   jgeracaris@cityofevanston.org

The Council

https://www.cityofevanston.org/government/city-council

The Council is made up of the mayor and nine aldermembers, each one representing an Evanston Ward.  The minimum of aldermembers that have to be present, the quorum, is six. For an  issue to be approved, when 6 or 7 aldermembers are present,  4 aldermembers have to agree.  If there are more than 7 present, then 5 aldermembers constitute the majority. If the vote is split evenly then the Mayor contributes his vote.

City Council meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month, with the exception of August and December when only one meeting is scheduled.

City Council meetings are scheduled to begin immediately following the conclusion of the Planning & Development Committee meetings. *Monday, September 25, 2023, is Yom Kippur. 

The City of Evanston, Illinois is a general purpose municipal government located in Cook County, Illinois. It is a home rule unit, as defined in the 1970 Illinois Constitution, and operates under the Council/Manager form of government.

Rules and Organization of the City Council 

Daniel Biss  Mayor

Stephanie Mendoza City Clerk 

• Clare Kelly  1st Ward

• Krissie Harris  2nd Ward

• Melissa A. Wynne 3rd Ward

• Jonathan Nieuwsma  4th Ward

• Bobby Burns 5th Ward

• Thomas M. Suffredin 6th Ward

• Eleanor Revelle 7th Ward

• Devon Reid 8th Ward

• Juan Geracaris 9th Ward

Proposed City Council 2023 Meeting Schedule and Voting Order

August 28  Harris 

September 11  Wynne    September 26  Nieuwsma

October 9    Burns    October 23  Suffredin

November 13  Revelle    November 27  Reid

December 11  Geracaris 

To ensure that emails and letters are kept as records in the City 

(Caveat: This was the procedure in 2019)

To ensure emails and documents become part of  the official  Plan Commission packet submit them at least four business days ahead of the scheduled Plan Commission meeting  that will discuss your particular concern. Send the material to Meagan Jones: mmjones@cityofevanston.org 

If you want those documents and letters to be kept also as records for the City Council they need to be sent to   the City Clerk too.  

cityclerk@cityofevanston.org

State at the the start of your email:

To the City Council 

If you want both the Council and the Land Use Commission to have the email, you can of course do it in one single email addressing it to  both

 cityclerk@cityofevanston.org  and  mmjones@cityofevanston.org

State at the start of your email:

To the City Council and Land Use Commission

If you want  your email to reach specific alderpersons,  add their official email address to that of the city clerk. Then add the alderperson(s) name to the phrase "To the City Council" at the  start of the email.    

re. ( subject you are writing about) 

• Esteemed (or Dear) Council members and/or any alderperson

• body of the email

• include your contact info and name at the end of the email

To provide further proof of your email, send a copy (CC) to: 

• spotlight.evanston@gmail.org 

For other issues make sure you CC your emails to the organizers of your specific group.

The map below may need updating in 2023.