Town, Gown Work Out Deal to End Spat

Northwestern University and the city of Evanston, Ill., this week settled a long-standing battle over a historic district that included dozens of university buildings, avoiding a federal trial next month.

Under the agreement, the result of more than a month of talks, the upscale Chicago suburb will redraw the Northeast Evanston Historic District to remove 14 of 56 school buildings from its boundaries. In return, Northwestern will pay Evanston $700,000 -- about the cost of a lighting system in the neighborhoods surrounding the campus that the city will begin installing later this year.

“It’s a fair and balanced settlement,” said Jack Siegel, a lawyer who represents the city. Officials said they have not determined how the money will be spent.

“This is the best compromise in this situation,” said Alan Cubbage, vice president of university relations. “A trial would have been expensive and difficult, and caused even more tension between Evanston and the university. We’re glad it’s over with.”

The economic animosity between the school and the city has gone on for more than a century. Over the years, Evanston repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to get Northwestern, which is exempt from property taxes, to pay for city services.

Then, in May 2000, Evanston created a historic district that included, among other university structures, a dormitory built in 1973, a concrete gymnasium built in 1974 and a university transportation center built in 1999. The designation meant that city approval would be needed before Northwestern could erect new buildings, demolish old ones or make even the most minute changes to existing properties within the district.

Northwestern filed suit in November 2000, seeking to dissolve the district and accusing Evanston of extortion “and acting with vindictiveness.”

City officials maintained that they never targeted the university, insisting that the district was created to protect some historic homes and that the school property just happened to be within the boundaries. At a crowded City Council meeting earlier this month, Mayor Lorraine Morton told residents that settling the case was “in the best interest of the citizens.”

The new district lines will exclude the Northwestern dorm and gym, a 1950s-vintage health center, the transportation center and another faculty building constructed in 1999, and several parking lots and houses that have been converted into office buildings.

U.S. District Judge Marvin E. Aspen is expected to approve the settlement today.