Tower Road pier projections pushed back; Trustees expect to see plans by December

Still hoping to restore pedestrian access to the closed Tower Road pier, the Winnetka Village Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a contract extension with its consultant.

The extended agreement with Baird & Associates, which the Village initially hired in October 2025 to conduct an evaluation of the structure, is for engineering and further structural assessment, as stated during the council’s meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 18.

The pier closed this past Jan. 27, as previously reported by The Record, with Village officials saying at the time that the pier was “unsound due to erosion beneath the pier and damage to the pier’s (retaining wall).”

In March of this year, trustees gave their support to pursuing a reconfigured footprint on the table land, estimated at that time to be between $500,000 and $1 million.

Nick Narhi, Winnetka’s water and electric director, detailed on Tuesday what’s happened since that March meeting.

“In May of this year, we used an existing Village contract to perform a full topographic survey of the Tower Road pier and the surrounding area, which will be utilized in our final design,” he said, adding that the survey results will be combined with the structural analysis that Baird is proposing.

Narhi said Baird’s work will include, among other things, a “geotechnical” investigation that involves boring into the pier and surrounding area and a stability assessment.

“So Baird is going to tell us what areas precisely are safe or unsafe structurally, which will allow us to determine where we can delineate public access in the near term,” he said.

While the Village Council had hopes back in March that the pier would be restored by the end of the year, Narhi said the timeline now projects a 2027 completion date.

When Village President Bob Dearborn asked about next steps, Narhi said Baird had told him that it could have analysis done and results back by the end of September or mid-October. From there, he said, design concepts would be prepared internally and brought back to the Village Council for consideration in either November or December.

Narhi said there likely would not be any work done until February or March due to the conditions of the lake during the winter.

“But while the lake is experiencing those winter storms, we can be doing design work, bidding, so we’re shovel-ready [by the spring],” he said.

Narhi also said the Village does not have the capabilities to do the structural analysis in-house, which is why they’ve sought Baird’s assistance.

“The hope is that we can restore as much as possible, but depending on what [Baird workers] find underneath the concrete and asphalt, [public access] might be moved closer to the shoreline,” he said. “We don’t know until we start doing the subsurface investigation.”

Village Manager Kristin Kazenas added that while the structural analysis presents an “asterisk” in terms of overall project cost, the intention is to stay within the budgeted amount.

Narhi also said that staff believes “this is a solid proposal for the scope of work that we’ve requested.”

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