Centennial Beach 5pm - 225 Sheridan Road - learn about breakwater design options.
Lloyd Beach 6pm - 799 Sheridan Road - compare the proposed breakwater to the one at Lloyd Beach.
Hubbard Woods School 7pm - 1111 Chatfield Road - recap and share ideas + insights.
Lack of transparency bites.
Just ask the Winnetka Park District.
Lack of transparency limits options. Diverts forward momentum. Keeps you on defense when you should be taking a victory lap. Causes you to negotiate with parties not of your choosing. Questions motives, tactics, commitment, and (yes!) intelligence.
NTL. Monday night is the WPD’s all-out (and possibly final) attempt to come clean.
A three-stage, probably 4-hours-plus all-hands-on-deck, show and tell of the what's and why's behind the deal to combine Centennial and Elder beaches and parks into a lakefront amenity they'd hoped would become the pride of Winnetka and beyond.
ICYMI
n 2016, the Winnetka Park Board approved the Waterfront 2030 Plan – the Master Plan to preserve and improve all 5 of Winnetka's beaches and its beachfront parks.
A combined Centennial/Elder Beach was the last major deliverable. A property between the two was the last major hurdle. A resident bought it and offered to swap it for an equal-size piece of Centennial Park, signed an "Exchange Agreement" to put a period on the deal. Next stop title exchange, closing, handshake, nice doing business with you's.
Not so fast.
The property owner decided he needed privacy and security. Then more privacy, more security. Then guarantees of privacy and security. Eventually, a one-and-done with a stone breakwater became a joined-at-the-hip-in-perpetuity public-private partnership with a 17-foot concrete-and-steel wall to be constructed on his property and maintained by the Park District.
With a boatload of sub-agreements, covenants, and conditions.
That a boatload of Winnetka residents didn't like. Make that, a boatload and a couple of newbie Commissioners who when brought up to speed (including FOIA-ing their own Commission's work product), wondered how this happened.
To which the WPD said, it's too late, move on.
Oops.
Phrases like "in the public interest," "fiduciary responsibility," "legal rights," and finally, "if you knew what we knew" ensued. Cue curious-turned-suspicious residents. Thousands of them.
Catch up. On. Steroids.
The WPD was forced to rebuild its website to house details and documents, videotape and youtube its Board meetings, and eventually, post FOIA'd (albeit highly redacted) minutes of more than 3 years of closed sessions.
Then following the Village Council's lead, launched "Chats with Commissioners."
Monday night is the WPD moving on.
From the Cheap Seats
There are a lotta loose ends. Will make for good convos, come Monday.
Title. The property owner says no exchange without permits. The Exchange Agreement – the only one with sigs – says otherwise.
Wall? OK, no wall. The Property Owner threw it down. Not really his to toss, tho, according to the Exchange Agreement. So what is?
Unsigned agreements. Think: Master Agreement, Structural and Border Agreement, Restrictive Covenant. Hundreds of pages. Tons of edits. Tons of revs. Zero sigs. And yet, all are moving forward. What's with that?
Follow-the-money meet player-to-be-named-later. Something called "Walton 2019 Revocable Trust" showed up on the sig pages of the Master Agreement and Structural and Boundary Agreement. Right below Orchard 2020, the Property Owner's Trust. Nothing in the minutes. Color us curious;
Too much Master, too little Plan? The Waterfront 2030 Plan's a "living plan" with a "15-year plus time horizon" to be "regularly re-visited and re-evaluated...for consistency with goals and objectives, community sentiment, and environmental conditions." We're not seeing a lot of feet-to-the-fires here – at least not from the residents.
Money Madness. Commissioner Codo says we've got money and 'til December to spend it or pay higher rates. So not a problem. Just ask the Village of Winnetka, who when their Tunnel to Nowhere went nowhere, spent their $16M one-offing stormwater fixes all over town.
Beach, no beach. 2020 was good for water levels, bad for our beaches. According to the US Army Corps of Engineers' latest report, though, Lake Michigan is now 25" below that high. And as the water recedes, voila! beach! So the part of the Plan that's got erosion on its mind just got some time on its hands.
Severability. Can the Board contractually decouple from the co-applicant thing now? Who's over whose barrel? According to the Closed Meeting Minutes, the Property Owner threatened to walk away from the deal several times. Why didn't the WPD see this for the gambit it was? Section 4 in the Exchange Agreement? (Hopefully, more on this later.)
Make Them Make Good on Their Come-Clean
The more you know, the more you'll know. Here's your stuff.
Recently released documents:
Redacted closed session minutes 1/10/2019-4/28/2022 – Grab a cup of coffee, this is a long one. The redactions may be frustrating, but you'll know way more than you do right
Master Agreement – the Mother of All Agreements that says not so fast with that Exchange Agreement.
From past Spot Checks:
WPD Document Dump. Plans, revised plans, contracts, presentations, applications.
WPD Video presentation of the combined beach plan with breakwaters explained.
Elder Lane+Centennial Project (as part of the Waterfront 2030 Plan
The WPD Commissioners and their contacts:
· Warren James, President: wjames@winpark.org
· Christina Codo, Vice President: ccodo@winpark.org
· Mickey Archambault: marchambault@winpark.org
· Eric Lussen: elussen@winpark.org
· Cynthia Rapp: cyrapp@winpark.org
· Colleen Root: croot@winpark.org
· David Seaman: dseaman@winpark.org
· John Peterson, Exec. Director Winnetka Park District: jpeterson@winpark.org
You won't be able to know all they know, what with those redactions and the Property Owner's confidentiality clauses. But Monday night, you'll see what they see and hear what they say. Intelligent, informed questions will make the difference between a lakefront snow job and a real beachfront solution.