Winnetka’s Village Council put an end to the latest commotion over its lakefront by opposing a project that would build chain-link fencing for dogs on Centennial Beach.
Three Village advisory boards had previously rejected the Winnetka Park District’s plans for the chain-link dog enclosure, but the park district persisted and brought its much-discussed plans before the Village Council, which gets the final say.
In its preliminary vote on May 19, the Village Council, too, turned thumbs down to the chain link fence.
“The lower boards provided information to the trustees, and it was expected that they (Village Council) would probably follow the advice of their lower boards and commissions,” Park District Executive Director Shannon Nazzal told Pioneer Press right afterward.
After Park District officials had their final go at defending the fence plans, and after residents strongly protested the project once again during public comment, the Village Council voted 5-1 against the proposal.
The Village Council’s vote was a preliminary measure to reject the project. The trustees will vote on a formal rejection at one of its meetings in June, but they indicated that they’ve made up their minds.
The decision effectively killed the Park District’s vision for creating an off-leash dog beach enclosed in chain-link fence. The push for the fencing had sparked a backlash from some Winnetka residents who disdained what some called a “cage” on Centennial Beach. Some said they were upset with the district’s priorities.
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At the Village Council meeting, some trustees joined in those criticisms, with Trustee Rob Apatoff making perhaps the starkest condemnation of the Park District.
“Rather than being thanked for all their time and effort, our lower boards, this Council and village residents were at times publicly maligned by several Winnetka Park District commissioners during WPD board meetings and in letters to local publications,” Apatoff said.
“This has been profoundly disappointing, counterproductive, unfair and very unnecessary. It is behavior I hope never to see repeated.”
The brouhaha marked the latest dispute over Winnetka’s lakefront, which has weathered waves of controversy in the wake of billionaire Justin Ishbia’s dealings with the Park District.
In 2024, the district agreed to accept $3 million from Ishbia in exchange for placing a 50-year restrictive covenant on Centennial and Elder Lane beaches, though as of early 2026, the donation pact had yet to be executed.
As construction on Ishbia’s massive mansion next to Centennial Park appeared to near completion, the Park District embarked on its push to put up chain-link fencing on the adjacent Centennial Beach. It cited its interpretation of Cook County rules for dog parks.
In early 2023 the Park District attempted to put up fencing, but the village swiftly nixed the effort because it lacked permits.
Since then, the Park District has required that dogs be leashed on Centennial Beach, but continued to entertain the idea of building an enclosure to allow the canines to go off-leash.
To build that enclosure, the Park District sought the input of the three advisory boards before presenting its plan to the Village Council.
After the first, the Plan Commission, unanimously recommended in January that the project be denied, the Park District came up with a new version that would enclose only around half of Centennial Beach in chain-link fencing. It would also have allowed people to walk the length of the beach without having to enter the enclosure.
Nonetheless, in March the village Zoning Board of Appeals recommended against the new version in unison. The following month, the Park District offered up both versions to the Design Review Board and met the same outcome.
In spite of the many criticisms of what the Design Review Board’s chairwoman called an “eyesore,” the Park District presented both versions to the Village Council.
Once again, park district officials were grilled about why they have focused so much on building the fences.
When Trustee Kim Handler asked Director of Parks and Maintenance Costa Kutulas how many dog bites have occurred at the beach, Kutulas responded that he would need to ask the police for that information.
“I would think that would be something that would be important to know if one of the driving points for needing all this fencing is to keep dogs away from children and people,” Handler said, adding that it appears not to have been an issue.
Other angles, such as Ishbia’s shadow and the relatively small number of dog beach users (around 30 daily in the summer and five in the winter), factored into the Council discussion, as well as in the public comments.
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None of the residents who spoke supported the project. Some used props, such as a tennis racket playing the part of chain-link fencing, while others ascribed a gravity to the dispute by quoting Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.
One visitor to Village Hall, Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton, told the Council he tried to get some clarity on the regulations the Park District has cited in pushing for a dog enclosure. Britton said he did not receive a “definitive answer” from county legal counsel but added that dogs, if allowed to go off-leash, would need to be contained in some way. He did not take a position on the Park District’s plans.
When it came time for Council members to declare their positions, however, one trustee had a slightly different take.
Trustee Scott Myers latched onto the new version’s provision that, under typical conditions, the fencing would not go beyond the water line, and he said that with certain changes, he could approve the project.
He ended up providing the only vote not aligned with the Council’s effective rejection of the dog beach plans. Trustee Tina Dalman indicated an openness to Myers’ ideas but ultimately voted with the rest of the Council.
With the project effectively dead, Nazzal said the Park District will return to its Board for guidance on next steps. One alternative mentioned at the meeting would allow dogs only during the early morning hours at one of the beaches.
“I believe that there are maintenance implications for that, and it’s something that our Board will have to discuss,” Nazzal told Pioneer Press.