Guest essay: Evanston zoning debate shows need for Pritzker housing plan
April 22, 2026
By Dan Lev
Link to full article at Evanston Roundtable
After attending approximately a dozen community meetings in Evanston regarding proposed changes to the city’s comprehensive plan and zoning code, it is clear to me that the Illinois General Assembly must pass Gov. JB Pritzker’s BUILD Plan because local governments cannot solve Illinois’ housing shortage without state-level intervention.
In January 2024, Evanston launched its plan, Envision Evanston 2045, to simultaneously update its comprehensive plan and zoning code. Since Envision Evanston was announced, there have been dozens of community engagement sessions with a city-hired consultant, focus group meetings, ward meetings, land use commission meetings, strategic housing committee meetings, City Council meetings and robust social discourse surrounding the project.
Envision Evanston was a key issue in Evanston’s 2025 municipal elections, incited a political campaign against the mayor’s land use commission appointments, routinely features mobilized factions in both support and opposition of the project at public meetings and has cost the city at least $750,000 in consulting contracts.
After all of this time, money, and effort, Evanston passed a new comprehensive plan in January 2026 and hopes to have a revised zoning code approved by the end of 2027. This process has been excellently chronicled by the Evanston RoundTable’s Alex Harrison.
The crux of the public debate over Envision Evanston is the degree to which the updated plan and code should allow for increased housing density, often known as “upzoning.” The most steadfast opponents of the project say Evanston has a unique character that drew them here and that the city is completely built out. I witnessed one man state on the public record that Evanston is “full.” The most ardent supporters of the plan are pushing for up to four housing units being allowed to be built by-right on any residentially owned lot to economically grow the city, utilize public transit, and to combat high home purchase and rental costs. Much of the public is somewhere between the ends of that spectrum.
