Kenilworth trustees question focus, pace of Green Bay Road project

Despite more than a decade’s worth of study, updates to one of the North Shore’s signature thoroughfares may still be a ways down the road.

Kenilworth trustees during their Monday, Nov. 17 meeting heard a presentation from Ciorba Group, the engineering firm leading work on potential streetscape updates to Green Bay Road.

And although trustees showed favor toward some of the initial concepts, much of the board felt the project may be stuck in second gear.

According to village documents, in 2023, Kenilworth and Winnetka entered a joint agreement with the Ciorba Group for a study of Green Bay Road from Kenilworth Avenue to Winnetka Avenue. That area includes both Kenilworth’s business district and Winnetka’s Indian Hill business district.

The following year the two towns held several open houses to gather public input on streetscape and alignment concepts.

Mark Johnson, a roadway project manager with the Ciorba Group, started his presentation by detailing the long-tenured history of the planners exploring upgrades to Green Bay Road. He noted that the firm is building its work off an initial study that was done for Kenilworth in 2013.

Officials previously outlined the goals for efforts in the area that included improving the safety and experiences for vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic while also stimulating economic growth throughout the corridor and providing an identity for the community within the region.

During a short presentation, Johnson ran through a series of high-level concepts that planners have explored as options for improvements.

A key proposal Johnson detailed was an effort to improve the street with a different road diet, which could include shifting from two lanes in each direction to one through lane in each direction with a center lane that would allow for two-way left turns.

A proposal discussed for the Kenilworth portion, the western portion of Green Bay Road, would separate the roadway with a concrete median, which would create diagonal parking along with a 12-foot travel lane for parking.

The road diet — a term referring to transportation planning that reduces the number of vehicle lanes on a road to make way for other modes of transportation — in Winnetka, as pitched, would maintain the parallel parking on both sides of the roadway, Johnson said.

It would also add a sidewalk on the east side of the roadway. That proposed sidewalk would be up to 15 feet wide, an increase from the other sidewalks in the area, which are generally 10 feet.

A concept that Johnson noted received high support from residents is to add a slight curve in the roadway where motorists transition from Kenilworth to Winnetka to help slow down traffic.

Additional concepts that residents also preferred included crosswalks, particularly at the Winnetka Avenue intersection; mid-block crosswalks; parking in front of businesses and especially at the post office; and widened sidewalks in Kenilworth to help spur access to local establishments.

Before the majority of trustees offered their feedback, Village President Cecily Kaz described the presentation as a “bit of a status check,” adding that it’s taken a long time just to get to this point.

“If we are to move forward,” Kaz said, “it’s going to take even longer and (Village Manager Kathy Thake) and I thought it was best to revisit where we are and what’s been done, so that this board together can make sure that we’re clear on what the objectives are and if this is headed in the direction we want to go.”

Following the presentation, several trustees noted they felt unclear on the goals of the project.

“This is a significant investment and to me it’s unclear what the overall objective is,” Trustee Christopher Ottsen said. “In my mind, I thought we were going to be increasing parking, but obviously that doesn’t appear to be the case.”

He later added, “I think we need to have very specific objectives for this if we’re going to be investing this much money into it, just so that people and the community know this is where your tax dollars are going and this is what we intend to accomplish with this project and right now I don’t have that clear picture of exactly what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Trustee Tim Ransford said he felt like the project was moving “with a glacial pace” and that “it’s overly complicated” as proposed right now. He also said his hope is to transform Green Bay Road from the gauntlet that it currently is into a “gathering space,” adding that he would like to see sidewalks widened to at least 20 feet.

Board member John Gottschall said he is all for slowing traffic and thinning Green Bay Road but added that he believes more parking is needed as Kenilworth’s downtown area gets more vibrant.

Trustee Joseph Vitu Jr. echoed much of what Ransford said, adding that he would “really love to see much wider sidewalks to make it more of a gathering space.”

Kaz concluded the board’s discussion by assuring that no decisions were being made during evening’s proceedings and that trustees were continuing to gather information.

“This is really just a status check, and it sounds like we’re going to regroup and confirm the goals and the direction we want to give to complete the conceptual process and what we would want to do going forward,” Kaz said.

Both Kenilworth and Winnetka officials will need to reach common ground on any concepts before moving forward. If both boards reach a consensus to move forward, they’ll collectively direct planners to begin preliminary engineering work.

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