Evanston City Council delays vote on Northwestern's Ryan Field rebuild plan

EVANSTON, Ill. (WLS) -- The Evanston City Council will no longer vote on the controversial plan to rebuild Northwestern University's Ryan Field on Monday night.

The plan calls for rebuilding the stadium and rezoning it for commercial use, paving the way for the venue to host up to six concerts a year.

The council was originally slated to vote on the plan Monday night, but members tabled it.

It's been an ongoing debate in Evanston, and the privately-funded project is drawing major community pushback. The biggest issue for residents are sound, safety and traffic.

Evanston resident Aaron Cohen opposes the plan, and concerned it would negatively impact neighborhoods around the stadium with increased traffic and noise pollution.

"It's more than the infrastructure can bear," Cohen said.

SEE ALSO | Evanston neighbors, activists protest nearly $1B Ryan Field renovation plan

This comes after a memorandum of understanding between Northwestern and the City of Evanston was updated over the weekend. Northwestern increased its contributions to a public benefits package, giving $150 million in donations and tax revenue over 15 years.

"Money that the city desperately needs as they're looking at a $20 million budget deficit next year," said Dave Davis with Northwestern University.

Sebastian Nalls with the Community Alliance for Better Government says more needs to be done to outline how the new stadium could benefit the community, and that it feels too rushed to take action on the plan.

"Let's table this and make sure it's fully fleshed out to prevent the city from possible lawsuits," Nalls said.

If the ordinances pass, Northwestern will have the city's permission to begin construction, which is slated to be complete by 2026.