Evanston’s Environment Board on Thursday weighed in on the revised designs for the new North Shore Channel canoe launch next to the Evanston Ecology Center at McCormick Boulevard and Bridge Street.
During the meeting, which was held at the Morton Civic Center, Parks & Recreation Deputy Director Matt Poole updated the board on the long-awaited launch’s design and timeline. The design has been updated since the initial plans were revealed last November – most notably, the dock no longer juts out into the canal. While earlier plans called for the launch to be completed in 2025, the timeline has been pushed back to at least 2026.
The board was also asked to suggest some ideas for next year’s Evanston action agenda, which sets city-wide environmental sustainability priorities. Some notable ideas that came out of the brainstorming included simplifying permitting for heat pumps and other measures that make homes more environmentally sustainable and prioritizing solar panel installation at city-owned facilities such as the Robert Crown Community Center.
The board will discuss the agenda in more detail during its next meeting, currently scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10.
In May, the board agreed to ask the Land Use Commission to join in forming a subcommittee to discuss changes to the policy on how much parking developers need to build, potentially doing away with parking minimums. Board member Jexa Edinberg, who would’ve been the subcommittee’s chair, said there’s been no progress.
“I mailed the chair [of Land Use Commission] the 18th of August,” Edinberg said. “They’re all very busy with Envision Evanston [comprehensive plan] and don’t really have time to be a part of a parking reform subcommittee.”
Canoe launch
The new canoe launch was a brainchild of Evanston Environmental Association, a nonprofit group that provides fundraising, volunteer help and programs for the Ecology Center.
Erika Doroghazi, a member of the association’s board and a former center employee, previously told the RoundTable that the existing boat launch near the center isn’t compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and suffers from deferred maintenance. This forced the center to shift its canoeing programming to a launch in Skokie.
The project is separate from the boathouse and dock proposed by North Channel Community Rowing for a location farther northeast.
From the get-go, the association agreed to fundraise for the costs of building the new launch, while the city would rebuild the parking lot north of the launch. City Council officially approved the memorandum of understanding to that effect on Monday.
During the Environment Board meeting, Poole said the design was modified in response to public feedback. Like the original design, there will be stairs and a ramp leading down to the launch. The steps-like concrete structure by the shore is now wider, and it will still have dock cleats by the water.
“Our goal is to make the channel something everyone can experience,” Poole said. “There’s still a perception that the channel is still a sanitation ditch, and it’s not. The water in the channel tests cleaner than the lake more often than not.”
The floating dock is now parallel to the shoreline instead of jutting out – a change that, Poole said, was made because of concerns from the “rowing community.” The design specifically allows two boats to pass at the same time without any issues.
Poole also mentioned that the association plans to install “a couple of shipping containers” that will be used to store rentable canoes and kayaks. And he said the Ecology Center plans to use the launch for afterschool programs for kids attending the nearby Kingsley Elementary School. Board member Paula Scholl said she was happy to hear that.
Poole said construction may be completed by 2026 or even “mid-2027,” depending on whether the analysis of the soil samples reveals a need for environmental remediation. The cost of building the launch went up as well, from around $2 million to the “$2.5–$3 million range.”
This led Scholl to wonder if the Evanston Environmental Association would still be able to raise that money.
“We’re pretty confident,” replied Poole. “Some people on the board are pretty experienced fundraisers.”
Action agenda 2025
The discussion at Thursday’s meeting represented brainstorming, so members simply tossed out ideas.
Edinberg suggested doing more to activate “spaces that are commonly seen as not useful,” such as the alleys. Given that households such as theirs are increasingly shifting to recycling, they suggested adjusting trash pickup frequency and increasing pick-up frequency for recycling bins, adding that they weren’t sure how that would work.
City Council Member Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th Ward) suggested making the bins smaller, which he said might be worth discussing as the current waste haul contract comes up for renewal.
Edinberg and board co-chair Matt Cotter also suggested looking into where the city’s bus and bike lane networks can be expanded.
The board discussed ways to encourage residents to put in sustainable features in their homes. Cara Pratt, the city sustainability and resilience manager, said the city is talking with Climate Action Evanston about setting up a program similar to Evanston Public Library system’s Repair Cafe for so residents can get demonstrations on how to install a heat pump or put in solar panels.
Nieuwsma said the city should look into ways to make the permitting process for installing heat pumps and geothermals as simple and affordable as possible.
Board member Jim Cahan said he was worried that because there are still unfinished items from the 2024 action agenda they might end up giving the staff more than they can realistically take on.
“The list is just getting bigger and bigger, and the staff looks like it’s the same number across the table,” he said, referring to Pratt and sustainability specialists Kirsten Drehobl and Ben Martin sitting across from him.
The other board members agreed that realistically the list would need to be whittled down. But they also agreed Evanston Animal Shelter renovations and installing solar panels on city facilities should be major priorities.
Latest plan calls for channel canoe launch to be delayed to 2026 or ’27 is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.