Commissioners like new dog-beach idea but hold off

The Winnetka Park District is “staying the course” with its plans for Centennial Beach’s dog beach despite a staff-developed alternate some Park Board commissioners believe would be a “wonderful” change of direction.

Following a directive last month from the board to review possible revisions to the district’s designs for the project, commissioners during their Thursday, Sept. 25 meeting heard a proposal from top park officials to reimagine several key elements of the permit plans.

Costa Kutulas, the district’s director of parks and maintenance, showcased a modified design for Centennial’s dog beach that would essentially allow passage across all of Centennial Beach for patrons without dogs.

In a district memo to commissioners, Kutulas said the new design would avoid the addition of new “physical obstacles” along the beach by eliminating two perpendicular fence runs. The new alternative, he said, would instead utilize existing steel groins along the shoreline as structural foundations for the new fencing.

According to Kutulas, the alternate concept would require relocating the current key fob entry gate to a new proposed walkway extension that would allow for “a controlled access point at the boundary of the proposed northern fence line. Doing so would make way for public access from the park level to the northern sections of Centennial Beach without the need for a dog beach pass,” per Kutulas.

While the majority of commissioners expressed general support for the pitch, the board reached a consensus to not yet further explore it given that changes to the design would likely require a new round of reviews from permitting agencies, pushing the district back in the necessary review process.

“I do like this plan because it encapsulates a lot of thoughts and comments that the park district has received on its current temporary fence permit but my concern is timing,” Park Board President Elise Gibson said. “I do think that putting this system in will seriously delay the time that we can have an off-leash dog park because it was indicated that we would have to go through the public comment process again.”

Commissioner Christina Codo, the board’s previous president, said she was grateful for staff’s work on the plan, calling it “elegant.”

“I think this is good work,” Codo said. “This shows good effort to accommodate some of the concerns that we’ve heard from the public and I think we should definitely keep it at the front of the list of amendments we may be making.

“I also think we have to see what feedback we get from the lakefront liaisons with regard to how we adjust our plan and improve our chances for the special-use permit.”

Commissioner David Seaman called the alternative a “wonderful idea and plan.” Seaman lauded the plan for addressing three of the key resident desires: passage for patrons without dogs across all of Centennial, less overall fencing and removal of the need to touch the bluff.

Background

As previously reported by The Record, the park district installed a temporary fence at the Centennial dog beach along the northern and southern property lines in the winter of 2023; however, that fence was removed and the project tabled “due to a lack of permitting approval,” park district staff said at the time.

This past March, the Park Board directed staff to put forward new plans for a temporary fence at Centennial after park officials said installing that fencing is necessary for the district to comply with the current Cook County Animal Control Ordinance.

Executive Director Shannon Nazzal said earlier this year that the district had received a call from Cook County Animal Control regarding what Nazzal characterized as “public concerns” about dogs being off leash in an on-leash dog area.

Park commissioners then in March agreed to move forward with temporary fencing at Centennial to alleviate the concerns.

But now six months later the district has still not been able to install the fencing as it continues to make its way through the necessary permitting process.

Although the district has progressed through most of the permitting stages required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, officials have still not heard back from the Village of Winnetka. Park Board attorney Adam Simon previously said the district submitted its permits for the temporary fencing to the village in mid-May.

The park district’s push to install fencing at Centennial comes as the district also tries to advance its much larger-scale efforts for a series of updates at both Elder Lane and Centennial beaches. Through that process, the district is hoping to determine a permanent solution for the dog park area at Centennial.

Park officials, as reported by The Record, announced in late June of this year that the district would pause its previously submitted special-use permit application for work at both beaches with the hope of revising project designs and addressing negative feedback received from Village of Winnetka advisory boards.

During the board’s August meeting, commissioners directed staff to solicit proposals for a lead engineer for the project. Park staff will present recommendations for that engineer to the board during its Oct. 23 meeting, Kutulas said.

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