Winnetka church’s expansion receives council’s blessing

Grace Presbyterian Church of the North Shore can proceed with its long-anticipated plans for additions after the Winnetka Village Council unanimously approved its requests Monday.

Church members packed the council chambers on June 3 and applauded after the council voted to approve the plans, which first appeared in front of a village review board just under a year ago.

According to Ann Klaassen, the village’s assistant community development director, the church is planning on demolishing the neighboring house at 760 Cherry St., which is owned by the church, and consolidating the two lots to build two additions.

The proposed south side addition will include an “accessible entrance into the existing church, new and updated youth space, and a new multipurpose space,” Klaassen said.

A second addition on the north side of the church will include office space and a nursery.

Both additions will include a second floor, although the north side will have a smaller one.

Klaassen noted that the church will not be adding new programming, which was also confirmed by The Rev. Marshall Brown, senior pastor at Grace Presbyterian.

“There have been concerns raised that the applicant will utilize the proposed improvements to accommodate a day care or a preschool,” she said. “But to be clear, the application submitted by the applicant and before the council this evening does not include the use of the church facility for a day care or a preschool.”

Brown added that, if the church wanted to add programming for children, they would have to go through the public review process again.

“The main things we’re trying to solve for are security, accessibility and functionality of our space,” he said, adding that the sanctuary will be losing seats in the addition. “We’ve got basically a sanctuary with a multipurpose room kind of fellowship hall…and we’re basically adding education space and losing a little bit of multipurpose space.”

The church’s plans first appeared in front of the village’s Design Review Board on June 20, 2024. According to Klaassen, neighbors to the property spoke up about concerns they’d had, and the church worked to revise the plans and address the concerns.

The plans came to the Village Council with positive reviews from the DRB, Zoning Board of Appeals and Plan Commission, while the Historic Preservation Commission recommended demolition of the neighboring property without delay.

“I think that this is a case of a plan that maybe has, with each iteration, improved a little bit,” Village President Bob Dearborn said.

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