Elks Park at Callan Avenue and Mulford Street, photographed in April 2026. Photo: Nick Number, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Evanston’s Land Use Commission voted 5-1 Wednesday night to recommend a special-use permit for an urban farm at Elks Park, the Ridgeville Park District site at 301 Callan Avenue in the 8th Ward.
Nonprofit Evanston Grows wants to put a roughly one-acre farm on the park. The group’s application, as reported by the Evanston RoundTable, puts that footprint at about 28% of the park. Evanston Now described Elks Park as about three acres and said the plan includes two hoop houses and two shipping containers for storage.
The city’s proposed projects page lists Laurell Sims, executive director of Evanston Grows, as the applicant and notes that the Ridgeville board approved the farm on Feb. 12, 2026. In 2023, the nonprofit won $350,000 in participatory budgeting funds for an urban farm. The City Council approved a zoning change in September that allows urban farms as special uses in open-space districts, Evanston Now reported.
Sims told Evanston Now the farm would produce around 20,000 pounds of fresh produce a year, with 80% expected to be donated to the community. “We really want people to be able to grow their own food,” she told the Daily Northwestern. “We want kids to know the taste of fresh produce, and to be able to get their hands dirty and elders to be able to have a space to chat, participate or do arts and crafts.” The paper, citing the application, also said more than 3,000 residents selected the urban farm idea in 2023 and that a neighbor survey submitted with the filing showed nearly 90% support.
Neighbors split at the hearing. Alan Goldberg urged the commission, “Please do not dump this project in the 8th Ward because no other Evanston neighborhood will approve it.” Bryon Samuel said he regularly sees soccer, flag football, kites, picnics and movies in the park, and warned those uses would not fit on “that little sliver of space that remains.” Marco Carranza-Walter, who supported the plan, pictured his young children “pulling out their first carrot.” Rick Marsh, a 42-year resident, told the RoundTable the park is “underutilized” and has “no baseball.”
Commissioners Luke Harris-Ferree, Darush Mabadi, Loren Berlin, Jeanne Lindwall and Jameika Mangum voted yes. Myrna Arevalo, who asked whether the farm site could be made smaller, cast the only no vote. The recommendation goes to the City Council on Dec. 14.
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