Park district will explore how to get Elder Lane Beach ready for this summer

Can Winnetka officials get Elder Lane Beach open in time for this summer?

That’s what the Winnetka Park Board wants to find out, and commissioners directed park staff on Thursday, Jan. 16, to get answers from Village leaders on what it will take to get the long-closed beach reopened.

Elder beach has been closed to the public for four years and reopening the space was brought to the board by Commissioner Cynthia Rapp, who said the public has made it clear that they want the swimming beach open.

She cited the recently released findings of the Winnetka Caucus survey, in which more than 60 percent of respondents said reopening Elder should be a top priority for the park district.

“I believe that the debris can be cleaned up, as it was in 2023,” Rapp said. “I believe that we can improve our position for the community on Elder in terms of making the beach and making the park look more presentable in terms of the bluff, and opening the beach house so that people can use the bathrooms and so make it more comfortable.”

Winnetka park officials have said Elder has been closed for so long because of dangers on the beachfront. Reportedly the beach has seen large pieces of debris, including broken concrete and metal, wash ashore, creating a hazard for beachgoers.

Currently, the park district’s plans to refurbish both Elder and Centennial Park Beach are making their way through the Village of Winnetka’s public review process.

The lakefront has been a divisive topic for the Park Board in recent years, with many split Park Board votes being cast when it comes to the plans for both Elder and Centennial. But all the commissioners on Jan. 16 agreed that Elder should be reopened and unanimously supported directing park district staff to speak with the Village about what can be done to get it ready for the summer, at least on an interim basis.

Commissioner Warren James also supported amending Rapp’s request to include cleaning up and reopening Centennial and seeing if the park district can get permission to at least partially remove the pier at Elder, which is included in the Park Board’s proposal for the beach.

“We need a dredging permit. We need to get a barge out there and an excavator that is scouring (the beach) to make sure that we’ve recovered all the steel and broken concrete,” he said. “We desperately need to do the same thing at Centennial. We should roll on both of these fronts.”

James’ amendment to increase the scope of the park district’s request was also unanimously supported.

Much of the commissioners’ discussion centered on whether it would be quicker to go through the special use process to get permits for maintenance or if the park district should seek an intergovernmental agreement with the Village.

James supported going the IGA route, while park district staff believed the Village would direct them to go through the special use process.

“Anything that we would need to do now as far as removing debris, bringing in a barge, bringing in excavators, anything like that would either require an amendment to a special use permit or a new special use permit for those specifics,” Executive Director Shannon Nazzal said.

Additionally, Costa Kutulas, director of parks and maintenance, said he did not believe the regulatory agencies — the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Army Corps of Engineers — would support what he referred to as an “emergency” permit for maintenance work.

“They might not see (an emergency) in the same light because there’s nothing threatened besides the closure of the site, which does not harm individuals per se,” he said, adding that he feels the best way forward is for he and Nazzal to meet with Village Manager Rob Bahan and Village Engineering Director James Bernahl.

Park Board President Christina Codo supported that plan.

“I’d love to have the question answered and settled once and for all,” she said. “I’d like to have it either added to the scope of the stormwater IGA for Elder or I’d love to have it put to bed and understand that we have to go through the whole permitting process.”

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