Winnetka Park Board to continue negotiation plans for stormwater pipe at Elder Lane Beach

The Winnetka Park Board briefly addressed concerns brought forward at the May 16 Winnetka Village Council meeting by Village President Chris Rintz regarding ongoing negotiations between the Park and Village Boards for the restoration of the stormwater outfall pipe at Elder Lane Beach.

The proposed renovations at the beach — which have remained in limbo for nearly a year after previous permits were pulled from consideration by several officiating agencies on June 9, 2022 — include removal and relocation of a village-owned stormwater outfall pipe further north along the beach. Village officials had the stormwater system surveyed, according to Rintz, and were told the pipe is in fine working order despite its advanced age.

Commissioner Warren James, who spent his last day as board president May 25, has stated several times that storm and high water levels have damaged the stormwater pipe. with pieces of it washing ashore. This is the only damage that was noted by the survey, according to Rintz.

Rintz also said when a chunk of the pipe washed ashore, it was decided to not immediately address the issue because officials from both the village and Park District assumed the entire pipe would need to be replaced and would be handled in the Park District’s plan. The village has no plans to change the pipe as the damage done doesn’t impact public safety or the pipe’s functionality.

“At this time the village cannot predict what improvements or enhancements must be made to any of the current outfalls along the lakefront,” Rintz said at the May 16 meeting. “We won’t be coerced into spending your money on improvements we don’t even know are needed.”

Commissioner Mickey Archambault, who is leaving his seat on the Park Board after eight years of service, sat down with Rintz prior to the May 25 Park Board meeting and described the conversation as positive and forward moving.

“It’s about going forward. It’s about working together,” he said. “I walked away from that meeting [head] held high and if Chris Rintz were here I would believe he’d say exactly the same thing.”

James said the village wants the Park Board to come up with final designs before approving any repairs on the outfall pipe.

“We understand there’s a lot of consternation over this. We understand we have to reach an agreement through an IGA (inter governmental agreement),” he said. “We’re prepared to do that.”

Negotiations regarding the pipe are scheduled to continue with Commissioners Cynthia Rapp and James handling discussion on behalf of the Park Board.

Some residents continue to voice their thoughts on the issue with former Park Board commissioner Mary Garrison saying the outfall pipe should be left alone. Resident Katie Stevens spoke on the Village of Kenilworth’s beach renovation plan saying they took the time to survey every village resident to include their thoughts in the plan. According to census data, Winnetka had approximately 12,370 residents as of June 2022 compared to Kenilworth’s estimated 2,514 in 2020.

“The health and safety is 100% an issue,” she said. “You’re placing a stormwater pipe on the north end and the waves come north to southeast.”

Former Park Board commissioner Teresa Claybrook referenced the proposed plans for the Winnetka Post Office, which have not come to fruition, saying that Winnetka becomes paralyzed by indecision.

“You guys have the opportunity to do what so many people in the community are behind,” she said. “I know there are a few people who are against it but there are so many people who are for it.”

The Park Board discussed adoption of an official findings of facts, a document outlining the history of the Elder/Centennial project including when the land was acquired, background on the 2030 Lakefront Master Plan that has been used to guide the project, previous exhibits created for the public at multiple open house events held by the Park District and more.

Stevens took issue with the document, saying that nearly a year of negative public comment was not included. She specifically referenced a petition against proposed louvers in a previous design for the project in June 2022. Commissioner Colleen Root expressed similar concerns when the document was presented to the Park Board saying she sees it as “one sided.”

“In June of last year, 1,800 members of this community signed a petition and their focus was they wanted to maintain lakeshore vista. They wanted access. They were displeased with the louvers ... somehow that didn’t make it into this document,” she said. “Nor is there any reference in this document to ... the large number of members of our community who have come and they have spoken against this particular design.”

Commissioners Root and Rapp tried convening a meeting on May 24 to discuss the document but the meeting didn’t reach a quorum and was canceled.

James said the document was created to compile everything that has gone into the plan in order to inform the public about the process and give the two new commissioners, James Hemmings and Jeff Tyson, access to information as they start their time on the board.

“We were in the implementation phase and the implementation phase was interrupted a year ago when the permits were withdrawn. Because there’s been so much consternation. Because there’s been a lack of understanding, perhaps, of all the public engagement that’s gone on for years and the many, many factors that influenced this,” he said. “We felt it was necessary and appropriate to provide this thorough documentation of all the work that this and prior boards have done to get us to this point.”

The findings of fact were adopted by a 5-2 vote with Root and Rapp voting against adopting the document.

To date, the Park Board has spent $144,477.26 on the Elder/Centennial project.