Evanston commission willing to play ball on Ishbia family’s proposed youth sports facility — but with conditions

(Editor’s Note: My Ly reported this story for Evanston RoundTable, a neighboring independent newsroom. It was shared with The Record as part of an ongoing collaborative effort.)

Evanston’s Land Use Commission Wednesday, Aug. 12 approved a recommendation to the City Council for a youth sports facility on Green Bay Road near the Wilmette border — with conditions including alley usage mitigation and a curfew for indoor lighting. 

The Ishbia Family Foundation applied for the sports facility at 2722 Green Bay Rd. in March. The land is currently the site of a vacant building, formerly an Office Depot store. 

The proposal succeeds an unsuccessful and separate plan to convert the Office Depot, which closed in fall 2024, into an Aldi grocery store.

The nonprofit foundation, headed by billionaire and pro sports owner Justin Ishbia, who resides in Winnetka, plans to use the facility for organized practices, training sessions, clinics, camps and private group events for children 12 years old and under. 

Current plans show the first floor would have four batting cages for baseball and softball and a seating area, plus access to two small, below-ground soccer fields.

The second floor would hold the building’s main space: a large field that could be configured into two flag football fields, an under-8 soccer pitch or a baseball/softball field at standard or Little League size. Two elevated mezzanines would provide viewing areas for parents and other spectators. 

This is the second appearance for the applicant, after neighbors requested a continuance, mostly over concerns about parents picking up and dropping off children and blocking the alley behind the property and lighting intruding into their homes.

The applicants submitted a revised site plan to address these concerns, shrinking the size of the building from about 55,000 square feet inside to 51,026 and removing four parking lot spaces, leaving the lot with 47 spaces, said Katie Jahnke Dale, the project’s attorney. 

“Now, to be clear, the plan was intended to alleviate any potential congestion in the alley, but we still do not plan to allow for any queuing or stacking in the alley, and we plan to operationally instruct users to enter the site and park if they arrive early for pickup,” Jahnke Dale said. 

The applicants requested five amended site plan allowances:

• To allow a 55-foot building where maximum heights are restricted to 45 feet.

• To allow a 1.02 floor area ratio (usable floor area relative to lot size) where code restricts the maximum floor area ratio to 1.0 or less.

• To allow encroachment of the proposed building into the Transitional Height Plan on the west side of the site.

• To waive pedestrian area requirements along Green Bay Road and Jenks Street.

• To waive the requirement for one short loading berth.

Lighting became a key issue for some residents, especially those who live on Prairie Avenue next to the facility. Many suggested the applicants install motorized blackout curtains. 

“We’re not asking the commission to stop the project,” said David Cook, a neighbor of the proposed facility. “We’re asking the commission to require the foundation to mitigate the obvious impact that is being created, in large part because the foundation is asking for permission to build a taller, larger building closer to a home than the zoning code otherwise permits. It’s reasonable to require meaningful mitigation of the additional impact to the neighbors.” 

In response, Brett Taylor, an architect for the project, said adding curtains would not be feasible with the structure of the building’s windows. 

Instead, commissioners voted to approve a condition that would require the facility, which plans to operate from 3:30 to 8:30 p.m. on weekdays, to shut off all lighting by 10 p.m., barring emergency needs. 

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