Despite negative zoning recommendation, park district plans no changes to Centennial beach plans

In the face of a negative Village recommendation, the Winnetka Park District is staying the course with its plans for Centennial Park and Beach.

No votes to change the plans were taken during the Park Board’s regular meeting on Thursday, Dec. 19, and staff said they will continue to present the same plan that they shared with the Winnetka Zoning Board of Appeals, which unanimously voted on Dec. 9 to give the park district’s special use permit request a negative recommendation.

Zoning commissioners expressed several issues with the plans, primarily related to safety surrounding a proposed 240-foot pier and concerns that the park district is not taking enough precautions to prevent people from jumping off of it or coming into contact with the rock base of the pier.

The negative vote was cited by James Hemmings, a first-term park commissioner serving as the board’s vice president, in his resignation on Dec. 11.

The ZBA is the first of three Village commissions the Centennial plans must confront before the Winnetka Village Council, which will have the final say. Staff reported that the Centennial plans are tentatively set to appear in front of the Winnetka Plan Commission on Jan. 22, with the Design Review Board happening at a later date.

Shannon Nazzal, the park district’s executive director, said the reason they will present the same plans without changes is because those were the plans that were submitted to the Village for review and that they spent months answering questions about.

“Those are the sets of plans that we have and that they’re observing at this point,” she said. “That does not change when we go to the Plan Commission, and it does not change when we go to the Design and Review Board.”

Nazzal, however, said that the commissions have the option of approving the plans with conditions, which she and others noted the ZBA chose not to do and instead “outright recommended denial.”

Park Board President Christina Codo added that had the ZBA approved conditions the Park Board would make changes; however, the zoning commissioners expressed in detail several of their concerns.

The majority of the meeting on Thursday — including both Centennial and the separately submitted Elder Beach project — consisted of Costa Kutulas, director of parks and maintenance, going through each of the ZBA’s concerns and sharing potential solutions that the Park Board could consider before presenting to the Winnetka Plan Commission.

Among the options were reducing the size of the pier, adding handrails to the entire length of the pier, and removing it altogether. He also went over alternatives to the district’s parking, bathrooms and the pedestrian walkway plans, all of which concerned the ZBA.

Codo said Kutlas’ presentation was informative and the board should keep the suggestions in mind; however, she supports moving ahead with the plans that have already been submitted.

The lakefront plans have been divisive among the commissioners and have led to a rift between the park district and Village that has occasionally spilled out into the public.

That rift was present Thursday as Commissioner Warren James, who has been a strong supporter of the lakefront plans, and criticized the ZBA and the Village once again.

James accused the Village of purposefully lumping public projects in with residential ones, so that the Village can assert control over land across the village. A claim for which he provided no support.

The Village did not return The Record‘s requests for comment.

He further criticized the ZBA for asking the park district to explain certain procedures and for calling the proposed pier unsafe.

James said he agreed with Hemmings’ comments in his resignation letter.

Commissioner Colleen Root, who has been a regular critic of the lakefront plans, said she felt there were details “lacking” when it came to the park district’s ideas for potential changes, specifically mentioning that public feedback was not mentioned.

“I don’t think that I’m hearing, in some suggestions, working in some of the recommendations and comments,” she said. “Quite frankly, I feel that this board majority has lost its way on this whole project.”

Root questioned why the park district’s coastal engineer was not present at any of the ZBA’s meetings to answer the board’s questions and why staff didn’t provide engineering data requested by the zoning board.

Root also asked to see a full plan for the design of both Centennial and Elder.

“One of my big problems with this is that I have never seen what is the full plan,” she said. “What is the full plan if and when you get 261 Sheridan (which lies between Centennial and Elder), what are you intending to do with it? … The whole plan should be built into this because it will affect the whole densely populated infrastructure of this neighborhood.”

Despite the ZBA’s negative recommendation, Codo, at the end of the meeting, expressed optimism that the plans for Centennial will eventually come together.

She suggested more education for village regulatory boards on why the Centennial plans are worthwhile.

“I do think there is a path forward,” she said. “It may be longer than we thought and it may be different than we thought, but I do think there is a path forward.”

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