Evanston council hears hours of public comment, stays divided over housing language in draft comprehensive plan

Evanston City Council convened June 24 for a marathon public‑comment session and initial council deliberation on the draft Envision Evanston 2045 comprehensive plan, hearing about 65 people in person and dozens more online before staff began an interactive presentation. The council voted twice on meeting procedures early in the evening: it allowed two members to participate virtually, rejected a motion to give each speaker three minutes and later suspended a 45‑minute cap so everyone who signed up could speak.

The June meeting focused on housing, with speakers, housing advocates and council members sharply divided over whether the draft should explicitly encourage more housing density — including language that some commenters and commissioners described as enabling “missing middle” housing — or prioritize preservation, anti‑displacement measures and permanent affordable housing.

Why it matters: the comprehensive plan is a 20‑year policy document that will shape future zoning, development priorities and city investments. Changes to language in Chapter 10 (Housing), the section on neighborhoods and centers and the plan’s implementation steps will affect how the city approaches upzoning, protections for existing affordable units and the role of developer‑led market housing versus permanently affordable models such as community land trusts.

Public comment themes and excerpts

Speakers opposing large‑scale upzoning and calling for stronger anti‑displacement policy were a consistent presence. Steve Test of the Evanston Action Coalition criticized language in early drafts that he said “called for elimination of single family home zoning and allowing, building by right up to 4 units,” adding that “the worst of that language has been removed,” but urging staff to remove further references tied to the broader “missing middle” movement. Paul Breslin and Meg Welch argued that increasing market‑rate supply alone would not make Evanston affordable: “If Evanston aims to make housing affordable for its lower income residents... it must protect some housing from the market,” Breslin said; Welch urged the council to make “creating permanent affordable housing” central to the plan.

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