How to spur development in Winnetka’s business districts was a key topic during a recent forum for the six candidates running for three open Village Council seats.
During the Feb. 21 forum, held at the Winnetka Congregational Church and sponsored by the League of Women Voters in Winnetka, Northfield and Kenilworth, candidates debated issues including stormwater sewer flooding, the proposed One Winnetka development project and the Winnetka Caucus.
But the most contentious issue was how to revitalize the downtown business districts, something that has been a source of debate in Winnetka for years. All six candidates said something must be done to breathe new life into the village’s business sectors.
Candidate Louise Holland said the controversial business overlay district, which regulates what types of business can open in ground floor storefronts, should not be removed.
“I have heard the overlay district described as the ‘big bad overlay district,'” Holland said. “It has saved retail in the village of Winnetka. People do not want to walk along sidewalks and see offices and see blinds and see dentists and see lawyers.”
“We have to keep that overlay district,” she added. “The overlay district is not an awful place. It saved Winnetka in the late ’80s and early ’90s.”
But candidate Kristin Ziv called the overlay district one of the most destructive regulations in the village.
“This is a kind of crazy thing we have on the books,” she said. “There are so many vacancies throughout the village. We need to just take that out. I would eliminate it.”
“That’s a real easy thing to get rid of,” she said. “It takes forever to do anything in this town.”
Candidate Penny Lanphier said revitalization of the business districts would benefit from planning and then writing regulations in keeping with village goals.
“It’s important that we consider the amount of parking that’s going to be required for the kind of development we might like to attract,” she said. “We need to decide whether we want to keep our districts as they are over the long term, or would we like to expand them.”
“These are the kinds of visionary things that we need to be thinking about and then create the regulation around that,” Lanphier added. “We need to manage the change, and not let the change manage us.”
Candidate Chris Rintz said the village should open a dialogue with the community to see what residents want in the business districts, and then “draft something that is uniquely Winnetka.”
“It’s not about this side is right or that side is right,” he said. “It’s about finding a middle ground we can all live with that will provide the sort of downtown we want.”
He also said Winnetka should hire a full-time economic development coordinator.
Candidate Marilyn Prodromos said the current council paved the way for several businesses to open in the village, and having a welcoming attitude is critical to drawing even more.
“I think the utmost importance is to be welcoming, to welcome developers and businesses when businesses come to our village, as opposed to having so many regulations that we had before,” she said. “We have other businesses that are waiting in the wings, ready to put the ink on paper.”
Candidate Carol Fessler said there is a “generational divide” on views of what Winnetka’s business districts should look like.
“In that divide, I definitely would tilt more toward the younger generation because they’re going to be here for the next 20 years raising their kids,” she said. “We need to also deal in good faith with the developers and the businesses that want to come in. You can’t say in the middle of a development proposal from developers, ‘We’re going to call a moratorium.'”
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The election will be held March 15.
Brian Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.