A federal judge has denied the city’s motion to change a 2004 consent decree to remove a Ryan Field parking lot from the purview of the Northwestern University-City Committee, calling it a “community issue” better suited for resolution outside the courts.
The ruling affirms that the parking lot west of Ryan Field at 1600 Livingston St., and by extension Northwestern’s proposals to rebuild and rezone Ryan Field, are valid topics for the town-gown committee to discuss and gather public input on.
“I have crystal clear contractual language, and you all are asking me to read in this limitation,” U.S. District Judge Nancy Maldonado said while denying the motion. “No one put this in there, no one limited the discussion of the committee to the local historic districts.”
At a virtual hearing Tuesday morning, Maldonado heard arguments from Corporation Council Nicholas Cummings, Northwestern Deputy General Counsel Priya Harjani and local attorney David Schoenfeld, who has served as a community representative on the committee since its establishment. Schoenfeld filed an emergency motion Monday to intervene in the case on behalf of himself, committee member Julie Johnson and Council Member Clare Kelly (First Ward).
Cummings jointly filed the motion with Harjani on May 1, 2023, without informing members of the committee or City Council. He told the RoundTable on Monday that the Law Department determined that filing such a motion did not need “to be approved by the City Council.”
The 2004 consent decree tasks the NU-City Committee with resolving land use conflicts that involve Northwestern properties in specific zoning districts on and around the lakefront campus. It notably excludes the district for athletic facilities like the Ryan Field football stadium, which the university is seeking city approval to rebuild and use as a venue to host concerts.
What’s the committee’s scope?
The decree stemmed from a years-long legal battle over the city creating Northeast Evanston Local Historic District, which included some Northwestern properties west of Sheridan Road and restricted the university’s ability to redevelop them.
What is at issue is the committee’s scope. Current language in the decree refers to zoning districts, not the historic district, and although Ryan Field’s district is not covered by the committee, the parking lot’s district is, bringing the entire stadium rebuild project into the committee’s purview.
This issue caused a disagreement between Evanston and Northwestern representatives at an April committee meeting over whether Ryan Field was a valid discussion topic, which eventually led to numerous attendees walking out of the meeting.
To address this divide, Cummings and Harjani’s motion effectively would have removed the Ryan Field parking lot from the consent decree’s coverage because it was outside the historic district. They argued that the parking lot may have been included in the consent decree unintentionally, and framed the change as a clarification of the decree’s language.
Cummings argued that it is unclear whether the parking lot’s inclusion was intentional, and told the judge he couldn’t find any conclusive evidence that it was discussed in negotiations 20 years ago. Harjani went further, arguing that the decree’s “entire subject of litigation” was the local historic district, and that input from the court is needed to resolve the dispute.
A community issue
Schoenfeld countered that the decree “does not require” such a clarification, pointing out that its language is clear about the committee’s purview.
“I think the court is right to have concerns about the court’s ability to look back 20 years ago … and discern the parties’ intent from any other vantage point but the unambiguous language of the agreement,” Schoenfeld said.
Maldonado agreed with Schoenfeld, and denied the motion to change the consent decree. She recommended that all parties resolve the disagreement at the city level rather than in the courts.
“I think that it’s in the interest of everyone to have discussions,” Maldonado said. “I know you came to me for a reason, but federal courts, we’re limited jurisdiction. This is a community issue.”
Council member Kelly told the RoundTable via email that she was “very pleased” the judge agreed with the intervening committee members. She called it “an important win for residents.”
“The NU-City committee should be viewed as an opportunity by Northwestern University to engage with residents in meaningful dialogue to resolve concerns in a cooperative manner. We need to build trust in this community,” Kelly said.
Cummings and Interim Communications Manager Jessie Mayo declined comment. Northwestern did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Conveniently, Nick Cummings is on his way out the door. Who from the City was complicit in working behind the scenes to file this motion? Looking at you, Luke Stowe and Mayor Daniel Biss. The community deserves some answers and what the consequences will be for such a move.
Shameful.
I listened to the hearing, and in addition to everything else that could be said about both Cummings’ and NU’s efforts to suppress discussion, I was shocked but not surprised that NU opposed the request by council member Kelly and the other Evanston citizens on the committee to intervene in the case. These folks, who serve on the very forum created by the consent decree at issue, have a clear and obvious interest in the outcome of the joint city/NU motion in the case. For NU to waste even a minute of time to oppose their reasonable request was offensive. The judge of course granted the citizens’ motion to intervene.