Plans to allow the Skokie Park District to swap land with a synagogue so it can build a parking lot on a section of Seneca Park are coming under fire from some residents.
The Skokie Park Commission was scheduled to take a final vote on the plan during its regular meeting Tuesday, when it was set to decide if Lubavitch Chabad of Skokie can build the 18 to 20 space lot in a section of Seneca Park, across the alley from the synagogue.
Some fear the deal my set a dangerous precedent for the Park District.
“It seems like a violation of the public trust,” said Leslie Riley, who has lived across from Seneca Park for 20 years. “There is little justification for it.”
Mike Reid, vice president of the Skokie Park District Board of Commissioners, said the group will do what they think is best.
“We’re going to look at what’s good for the neighborhood,” Reid said before the final vote.
The proposal has drawn fire from some in the area who say it amounts to a sell off park land. But Reid and Rabbi Yosef Posner of Lubavitch Chabad are quick to point out that what is being considered is a land swap and not the sale of any park land.
“The Illinois Park District Code forbids the selling off any park land,” Reid stressed.
He said the synagogue is proposing that it swap land it owns adjacent to the park with a parcel of land in Seneca Park in the 8700 block of Keystone Avenue so it can build an 18 to 20 space parking lot next to the temple.
The temple-owned land would then become Skokie Park District land, changing the L-shaped park into more of a square. Reid said the synagogue would pay for any changes and that the Park District may actually gain 600 additional feet of land in the swap.
“Anything that we’re proposing is truly appropriate,” Posner said. “It’s not crazy. If that was the case I would be against it also.”
Posner said the synagogue is not short of parking and instead wants to build the lot to free up street parking in the neighborhood around the temple.
“We believe it’s good for the neighbors,” he said. “It’s a proposal we brought up out of goodness, and kindness and neighborliness.”
Posner said he has received hate mail from people who believe the synagogue is attempting a land grab.
“There’s been misinformation about it,” he said.
Riley has collected more than 500 names on a petition opposed to the land swap, which she characterized as a “land grab.” She said the park will not be the same if the parking lot is built.
“I would like at least a compromise where it isn’t such an invasive parking lot,” Riley said. “There’s been no demonstrable need for additional parking. It’s really hard for us to understand why they’re making a press for additional parking that would intrude on the park.”
Reid said the synagogue has changed its plan twice to address neighbors’ concerns.
“The synagogue has to pay for everything,” he said. “This is not costing the Park District anything.”
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But Riley said if the commission signs off on the land swap it could set a bad precedent for Skokie’s park land.
“I don’t understand it being good for the park,” Riley added.
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter.