The Winnetka Park District’s newest pitch — on April 16 — to build fencing on Centennial Beach ran into opposition, similar to what happened when it previously floated its fencing plan to another Board that provides advice on proposed projects.
In the latest development in the years-long battle over what to do with Winnetka’s lakefront, the Park District has pushed a plan that would construct chain-link fencing on Centennial Beach in order to create an off-leash area where dogs can roam freely.
So far, however, none of the advisory Boards in Winnetka has approved of the plan. After the village’s Plan Commission unanimously recommended against an original plan that would use nearly the entirety of Centennial Beach, the Park District prepared a new version that cut the area of the proposed dog enclosure in half.
That version appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals in March, after the Park District had tried to preview it in February without having submitted the new plans to the village. The plan received brickbats from the public, and the Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously recommended its denial.
On Thursday, April 16, the Park District presented both versions of its dog beach plans to the Winnetka Design Review Board. After the presentation by the district and criticism from the public, the Design Review Board, like the other boards, recommended unanimously against the plans.
But since the advisory panels only provide advice, not a final determination, the three strikes won’t spell the end of the Park District’s project.
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Right after Thursday’s Design Review Board meeting, Park District Executive Director Shannon Nazzal told Pioneer Press that its bid will continue.
“We’ll still continue with our current process, and the next step is taking our options in front of the Village Council at the next available meeting,” she said.
Though Nazzal said the Design Review Board’s decision “disappointed” the Park District, she maintained that the district has offered the “best options for the community” to operate an off-leash dog beach.
Unlike at the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on March 9, no members of the Park District Board attended Thursday. And unlike his prior presentations, Director of Parks and Maintenance Costa Kutulas brought some props.
To describe the original dog beach proposal, Kutulas lifted up a chunk of galvanized chain-link fence. And in presenting the newer version with the smaller dog beach, he hoisted a piece of black chain-link.
The samples did not sway the Design Review Board, however, whose members seemed aghast at the prospect of building chain-link fences that would protrude into Lake Michigan.
“There would have to be some better option visually than having a chain-link fence on the beach,” said Katie Moor, who chairs the Design Review Board and called the proposed fencing an “eyesore.”
Her comments followed a public comment session in which residents universally panned the proposal. One speaker juxtaposed the chain-link prop that Kutulas had used against a poster-size picture of the lakefront.
At the previous Zoning Board of Appeals meeting on March 9, Steve Juliusson offered up T-shirts castigating the Winnetka Park District. This time, he dished out his criticisms without the wearable props.
“We can argue whether the fencing is ugly — it is — but nothing will be uglier than having a death or injury at the beach because you approve the fencing there,” Juliusson said.
The Winnetka Park District has argued that Centennial Beach, which currently operates as an on-leash dog beach, needs an enclosed area to meet county guidelines for allowing dogs to go off-leash. In 2023 the Park District quietly put up fencing, but the village put a stop to that because it lacked permission.
The district now seeks that permission from the Village Council, but it has already acknowledged that it could take until 2027 to finish constructing the enclosure.
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Some residents at the April 16 meeting posited that the Park District’s controversial donation pact with billionaire resident Justin Ishbia played a role in the dog beach designs. His under-construction mansion sits adjacent to Centennial Beach.
Such arguments spurred Nazzal to make her only public-facing remark Thursday, as she stood up and told the audience, “This is a Winnetka Park District application and has nothing to do with the owner of 205 Sheridan,” the site of Ishbia’s mansion.
The Design Review Board centered its concerns on the dog beach enclosure’s visual aspects. It will formalize its recommendation at its next meeting.
“To me, the chain-link fence kind of has that feeling of not being the appropriate material for the location,” Design Review Board member Heather Niehoff said.