As the City of Evanston prepares to move the city hall from the Morton Civic Center to rented space at 909 Davis St., it’s also looking at improving public areas around the building.
Back in June, the city contracted Living Habitats, a Chicago-based architecture firm, to figure out how to improve the existing public plaza on Church Street, between the 909 Davis building and the Metra embankment, as well as the area on the Davis Street side of the building, between Metra and ‘L’ embankments, and the gap between the building at the ‘L’ embankment.
The firm presented its final proposal to the Evanston Economic Development Committee on Oct. 23. Most notably, Living Habitat recommends turning the narrow alley between the building and the ‘L’ into a “bike alley,” complete with better illumination. Other notable components include the new Downtown Evanston gateway sign above the Davis Street vehicle entrance, more tables and chairs at the Church Street plaza, more bike racks and more public art.
The city will be using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) federal stimulus funds to pay for the project. According to Paul Zalmezak, Evanston economic development manager, they didn’t have the exact budget figure, but they ballparked it at approximately $500,000. The City Council is expected to vote on whether to approve the plan during its Nov. 11 meeting.
The new City Center Plaza
Even before the city hall move was announced, the area around the building was Evanston’s main transit hub. This is the spot where Union Pacific North Line and CTA Purple L line split off. Most CTA and Pace bus routes that serve Evanston stop at the bus terminal next to the Davis Street L station. There is an eastbound protected bike lane on Church Street and a westbound bike lane on Davis Street.
According to the Living Habitats presentation, the Church Street plaza, identified in the plans as the North Plaza, would get a large gateway arch and table and chairs along the line of what exists at Fountain Square. A space for “rotating art projects” would be added near the outdoor dining area. New bike racks would be installed along the embankment, and a City of Evanston informational kiosk would go up near the inbound platform’s north entrance. There would be steps-like seating along the historic train station building’s east and south walls. Lights would hang overhead, running between the station and the new city hall.
The plan leaves room for murals along the Church Street-facing side of the Metra embankment and the arches at the station building’s lower level. Any public art that goes there would need to be coordinated with Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the embankment and the station.
Living Habitats landscape planner Heidi Natura told the committee that, since Metra is mulling station improvements — a long-term priority for the transit agency that wasn’t included in the most recent capital budget proposal — they kept improvements to the station tunnel underpass to a minimum. She said the plan calls for cleaning up the tunnel, removing decades of paint to better showcase the original brick lining, and improving lighting and wayfinding signage, “making it more of a friendly space.” The middle stairs up to the inbound platform would get better lighting as well.
For the entry courtyard on the Davis Street side, the plan calls for a gateway arch above the driveway entrance, two new sets of benches at the turnaround, complete with shelters, and another rotating art display right of the north entrance. Natura said that, with the city hall moving into the building, they wanted to add bollards along the turnaround, and have a prominent City of Evanston sign wrap around the building’s southeast corner. The plan also leaves room for murals on currently blank walls on both Metra and L embankments, though that, once again, would be subject to the approval of Metra/Union Pacific and the CTA, respectively.
Natura said that Evanstonians already use the alley between the building and the L embankment as a shortcut. The plan calls for formally making it a biking/walking connector, with hanging overhead lighting, expanded bike parking and gateway signage on the Church Street side.
Committee feedback
Zalmezak told the committee that the $500,000 figure was “kind of a maximum.” When the plan goes before the full council, the staff will include a more detailed breakdown of what different components of the plan would cost.
The committee supported the overall concept, but they had a few questions about details.
Council Member Bobby Burns (5th Ward) asked if the bike alley would be exclusive to bikes.
“No, not at all, and we won’t call it a bike alley,” planner Hannah Gusick responded, saying it would be open to pedestrians as well, and remain closed to cars.
Burns mused that he would like to see something like Chicago’s Lake Shore Trail, which has clearly delineated bike and walking lanes for most of its length.
“It would be nice to have that,” he said. “People seem to adhere to it on the Lakefront Trail.”
Burns also wondered if there was a way to make sure the CTA embankment wall is well-illuminated. Gusick responded that she agreed that the wall was indeed “way too dark.”
Council Member Clare Kelly (1st Ward) said she had only one reservation about the proposal.
“I had several incidents with bikes on sidewalks,” she said. “I had at least one person hospitalized.”
Council to vote on new plan for public space improvements around new city hall is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.