Low bid count on zoning rewrite sparks debate on city's business climate

Last month, the city revealed that, despite six weeks of advertising, its request for proposals seeking a consulting firm to lead Evanston’s long-awaited zoning code overhaul yielded only two qualifying bids. At their meeting last week, a few councilmembers suggested the city didn’t receive more responses because it has a reputation as a “difficult place to work.” 

Days later, the RoundTable spoke to several councilmembers and developers about that perception to find out why it exists and what, if anything, can be done to change it. The RoundTable reached out to more than a dozen consultants and developers, but only one consultant and two developers agreed to speak, and even then, they did so on the condition they remain anonymous to avoid jeopardizing any future bids. 

They said Evanston can be a tough place to do business because of its stringent rules around the hiring of contractors, like the recently installed Responsible Bidder Ordinance, which sets strict labor and safety standards for anyone working with the city. As a result, some firms have chosen to avoid Evanston, but consultants and developers agreed that other cities will likely eventually follow Evanston’s lead in implementing more rigorous requirements. 

They also noted that several rules impact developers and contractors differently — some have little to no impact on developers while being the main reason some consultants opt to take their business elsewhere, and vice versa. 

But other councilmembers were not so convinced of that there’s a problem.

“We got a decent amount of people to respond to the RFP on the South Boulevard and Chicago Avenue project. We got quite a bit of responses for a project on Jackson and Emerson. I guess I’d need more examples,” said Councilmember Bobby Burns (5th Ward).

Burns added that he would nevertheless support looking into the issue if others feel it’s necessary.

“If it’s an issue for others, it’s worth looking into,” he said. “If there’s an issue, it’s going to take time to resolve it, because we need to figure out what the issue is and then what’s causing it. I don’t know if we’ve done that yet. People have just expressed some general disappointments.”

Developers and consultants who spoke to the RoundTable, though, said it’s likely they will ultimately face stricter standards — from environmental to social — wherever they work if they want to stay in business long-term. 

But for now, Evanston sometimes has to pay a price for being a leader when it comes to its requirements, according to Councilmember Matt Rodgers (8th Ward).

“There is a trade-off because we’re in competition with everyone else around us,” Rodgers said. 

Shawn Iles (3rd Ward) also touched on that, acknowledging a downside to implementing rigid rules.

“We are a progressive community, and we have a lot of things that are important to us, like the Responsible Bidder ordinance, having requirements around Black-owned and women-owned businesses,” Iles said. “These are things that we add to all of our contracts, and it ends up that we get fewer bidders, and that drives up the price of everything.”

Developers

“[Developers who consider working in Evanston] also look at Skokie, Rogers Park, maybe Lincolnwood, and sometimes they go farther afield. I think we have to find the balancing point between the progressive ideals that we’re trying to push forward, and how do we also remain competitive?” Rodgers said.

One vice president of a Chicago-based developer who has worked on projects across the country echoed that sentiment.

“Evanston is definitely strict, and a lot of times it’s not worth it for our firm. While I appreciate the reasons for the standards, I’m focused on making money, and there are a lot of easier opportunities elsewhere,” they said.

“Most of us deal with various requirements from a host of cities,” they added. “The main difference with Evanston is that it has several requirements, whereas many cities have two or three. Those cities will likely one day be as rigid as Evanston, but for now they aren’t, which means they are easier to work with from our point of view.”

One specific challenge for some developers is Evanston’s Healthy Buildings Ordinance, a which requires buildings of 20,000 square feet or more to have zero on-site carbon emissions by 2050.

“The Healthy Buildings Ordinance, while it’s a great idea, has increased construction costs for everybody,” Rodgers said. “When you add tariffs, we’ve become a very expensive place to build.”

Councilmember Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th Ward), who was a founding member and later president of Citizens’ Greener Evanston, which later became Climate Action Evanston, took issue with the idea that the Healthy Buildings Ordinance is an issue for developers.

“I don’t think our environmental regulations are scaring people away,” Nieuwsma said.

Another challenge for some developers is the city’s Inclusionary Housing Ordinance, according to Rodgers. Created in 2007 and amended in 2016 and 2025, the ordinance requires new and redeveloped residential projects of seven or more units to include 15% affordable housing.

“While a well-intentioned goal, it also increases the costs that have to be passed along, because for every affordable unit, you subsidize that with the market-rate units,” Rodgers said. “So when we talk about 605 Davis providing us with 80-plus affordable units, we also have created more than 300 units that have to subsidize those. So, the rents on those go up a little to help offset the costs. Affordable housing is not something a developer just eats the costs on.”

Rather than rolling back or diluting standards that have been set, increasing communication is vital, he argued.

“We have to start developing relationships with these developers and start working with them, not to get them what they want necessarily, but to figure out what they are trying to achieve. I’d like to see us getting involved early with developers, because it’s too late to start having the discussion when it gets to council,” Rodgers said. 

He gave an example: “We saw the Emerson Street Project recently. They reached council and suddenly had delays because people wanted to redesign the building, people wanting to make additions and subtractions. Those are all things that delay the process and cost the developer money.”

Consultants

A consultant who spoke to the RoundTable summed up their feelings about Evanston’s rules: “In time, most cities will likely be as stringent as Evanston, but for now, they aren’t. So, why would I want to jump through a lot of hoops when I can work elsewhere? It’s a no-brainer.”

Nieuwsma said he feels the fact that the zoning rewrite has not happened yet is behind a lot of the hesitation among contractors.

“I think the uncertainty of where zoning is going is certainly something to think about,” Nieuwsma said.

He added that the lack of responses to the recent zoning RFP raised several questions for him.

“Why didn’t we get more responses? I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure,” Nieuwsma said. “Are some companies at capacity? Is there a lack of appetite among zoning consultants to do business in Evanston? I think there’s certainly something to that assertion based on conversations I’ve had. Evanston has a perception as a challenging community to work in, and to a certain degree that perception is one of the factors in turning folks away from participating in the zoning RFP process.”

Iles urged the city and his colleagues on the council to consider all options when it comes to increasing RFP responses in the future.

“I think everything’s on the table,” he said. “I think we have to do a deep dive — I also think it’s way too early to say that we can do without certain things, but I definitely think we need to talk about it.”