Centennial’s dog-beach-fence plans again receive negative review

For the second time this calendar year, a Winnetka advisory board has opposed the Winnetka Park District’s latest plans for one of its prized assets.

Winnetka’s Zoning Board of Appeals during its Monday, March 16 meeting voted unanimously to recommend denial of the district’s special-use permit request to install fencing on a portion of Centennial Beach.

Monday’s session was the second instance the park’s current pitch for Centennial appeared in front of zoning commissioners. The board last week conducted its extensive review of the case, using a more than three-hour meeting to ultimately reach the consensus that the proposal does not meet the standards needed for special use.

As previously reported by The Record, Winnetka Park District officials in late 2025 announced that the district’s plans to install temporary dog beach fencing at Centennial Beach would go before village advisory boards in January of this year.

The park district’s quest for a special-use permit comes with the hope of being able to continue operating the off-leash dog park at Centennial. Park officials have previously stated that the off-leash beach has operated for more than 30 years.

Commissioners during the March 9 meeting, according to village documents, docked the park’s project mainly for concerns related to the “possible hazards” the proposed fencing would create, as well as the size and location of it.

The board also, per a memo from Winnetka Community Development Director Scott Mangum, detailed hesitations about the actual need for the fence, the size of the proposed off-leash dog beach and the potential implications of the fencing on the nearby public property.

According to a village memo, zoning officials also described the proposal as “piecemeal,” arguing that approval of the request is currently not reasonable because the application only covers a small portion of the beachfront.

Zoning commissioners additionally expressed hesitations about parking and knocked the plan for its “inconsistent uses at the north and south ends of the same beach with conflicts between dogs and individuals using the property facilities.”

While commissioners on March 9 detailed several points of contention, safety was the theme.

Board member Michael Ritter said he was “concerned about the health and safety risk” of the fencing. He went on to add that the fence is “terribly unsightly and will be when it’s new and that certainly will get worse as the fence ages and deteriorates.”

Matthew Bradley, chair of the board, said his “biggest concern ultimately is the safety.”

Bradley added that he feels this is “somewhat still continuing to push a square peg into a round hole and make this work.”

“It’s not our mandate to do anything other than review the merits of the plan, so while there may be other sighting areas that may have been considered in the past, that’s not the basis for my not being on board here. It’s that the standards are not being met,” he said.

The park’s proposal will next head to Winnetka’s Design Review Board on Thursday, March 26. From there, the proposal would next go in front of the Village Council — and it will carry at least two negative recommendations from town advisory boards.

How we got here

Fencing at the Centennial dog beach has now been a point of contention among various entities for several years.

As previously reported by The Record, the park district installed a temporary fence at the 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.

Then, in March of 2025, Winnetka park commissioners directed staff to produce 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.

Shannon Nazzal, the park district’s executive director, said during a Park Board meeting that the district earlier in 2025 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 subsequently agreed to move forward with temporary fencing at Centennial to alleviate the concerns.

Then, in February of this year, the Park Board voted to approve an alternate design for its dog beach fencing during a special meeting.

That Park Board meeting came just eight days after Winnetka’s Plan Commission voted to issue a recommendation to deny the park’s fencing plans. The commission’s decision caused park staffers to then develop two alternative designs based on feedback, said Costa Kutulas, the Winnetka Park District’s director of parks and maintenance, at the time.

Prior to the board’s change of course, the district’s vision called for fencing that consisted of two rows of chain-link fencing along the northern and southern boundaries of the dog beach.

Commissioners’ revisions included a 46% reduction of the size of the off-leash, bringing the total down from 490 feet to 265 feet as well as the relocation of the fencing.

The north-south border fencing was shifted to be planned for the top of the existing steel groins and jetties to use “an already existing barrier into the lake instead of creating new barriers,” Kutulas said during the February Park Board meeting.

The proposed material of the fence also changed. Additional updates included creating a pedestrian bypass area at the south end, relocating the entry gate to the beach level; and installing a double-entry gate system that includes a 10-by-10-foot area for pet owners to remove or attach their dog’s leashes.

Revised plans also, because of the reduction in size, left a portion of Centennial, approximately 260 feet, open for use. Park commissioners during their late February meeting determined the lake frontage would be used as a passive beach without swimming.

The district would staff that beach generally between May through early September and access to it would require a pass, the board determined at the meeting.

‘I believe strongly that this fencing is unwanted’

More than a dozen Winnetka residents addressed the Zoning Board on March 9, expressing concerns related to safety, public access, beach obstructions and parking.

Angie Dahl, a resident of Winnetka for more than 40 years and former president of the Winnetka Park Board, urged the board to consider the safety implications the plan could create.

“One of the biggest concerns from the public, your own board and the plan commission concerns the safety issues and hazards created by the installation of these types of fencing,” she said. “Fencing, by design, creates barriers, limiting access and egress. The placement of fencing may create designated traffic patterns, which will limit accessibility and result in a potential hazard for responders in the case of a water or sand emergency.”

Dahl also argued the district’s proposal does not remotely compare to the beach designs of any of Winnetka’s peers and referenced the district’s pending donation agreement with beach neighbor Justin Ishbia.

“There is no comparison between what is being proposed by the Winnetka Park District and any other North Shore beach design,” she said. “No other unit of Illinois local government is or would be willing to take money from an immediate adjacent neighbor and lock itself into inflexible beach usage or designs for one half century regardless of safety concerns, beach erosion, changing lake levels, changing beach demands and changing population demographics.”

Mary Garrison, who also previously served on the Park Board as well as the village’s Plan Commission, argued that fences should not be on the beach and that it creates safety issues.

“Centennial Beach is defined by its openness,” she said. “Installing chain-link fencing enclosures and entry cages permanently alters that character.”

“Fencing by the water creates safety conditions change,” she later added. “Fixed barriers in a dynamic environment introduce new risks rather than eliminate them.”

Garrison also stated a belief that in this case “precedent matters.”

“Once structural encroachments into the sand and water are approved, it becomes far more difficult to prevent additional barriers in the future,” she said.

Linda Welch started her public comments with a different tone, saying that she believes “strongly that this fencing is unwanted by the Winnetka community.”

Welch also stated her belief that the proposed fencing is “unsightly.”

“The view of Centennial Beach when you stand at the bluff is one of the most beautiful in all of Winnetka,” she added. Imagine looking down there at chain link fences and cages.”

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