Council Recap — July 21: An ‘Open Space’ District That Runs Every Public Body’s Land Through Village Hall
The Council fast-tracked a new Open Space zoning district covering roughly 40–45 publicly owned properties — parks, schools, the library. The stated goal is protecting green space. The mechanism is Village Hall approval for what other elected boards may do with their own land. Watch the meeting, then decide for yourself.
OTW’s take, up front: The Council is fast-tracking an “Open Space” zoning district whose practical effect is that every publicly owned green parcel in Winnetka — Park District parks, District 36 school grounds, the Library’s parcel, New Trier’s land — sits in a district written by the Village, where anything beyond a Village “essential public service” requires a special use permit that runs through Village Hall. Whatever the intent, that is one elected body writing the zoning rulebook for its co-equal elected neighbors. We think that is a dangerous precedent — and it deserves far more scrutiny than a single agenda item on a July evening.
At its July 21 regular meeting (watch the full video here), the Village Council took up two related items: a top-to-bottom rewrite of Winnetka’s zoning ordinance (agenda item 9A, at 58:47), and the creation of a new Open Space zoning district (item 9B, at 1:14:07). The rewrite is overdue and largely uncontroversial — staff noted the code has never been comprehensively rewritten, some provisions date to the 1920s, and the D light-industrial district still lists coal yards and tin-smithing shops as permitted uses. Expect an 18–24 month project with a consultant and steering committee.
The Open Space district is the item to watch. Community Development Director Scott Mangum laid out a two-phase plan, following direction from the April 14 study session: in Phase One, the village attorney drafts a new Open Space zoning district with standards borrowed from the R2 single-family district, and roughly 40–45 publicly owned properties — parks, public school grounds, the library parcel, Village-owned land and street ends — are rezoned into it. In that district, only uses operated by the Village for “essential public service” are allowed by right. Everything else — schools, library, parks — requires special use approval. Phase Two, folded into the multi-year rewrite, would revisit which uses become by-right, “working with partner agencies” and a land use consultant.
What officials said it does — and what it actually changes
Trustees were at pains to offer assurances. Asked directly whether the Park District, schools and library would still have recourse to the special use process for any change to their properties, staff confirmed they would — “as they largely do now.” When the Park District’s executive director asked whether existing special uses would carry over into the new district (1:43:19), the answer from the dais was: “The answer is yes, because we’re going to have our village attorney write it in that way.” President Dearborn closed the item stating there is “absolutely no intent to change the operations of the facilities of our village facilities, of D36, New Trier, School Board, Park District.”
The practical change of Phase One, as one trustee summarized near the end (1:49:28): publicly owned land in the new district could not be sold to a private buyer who could develop it as-of-right. It would first have to be rezoned out of the district — an extra layer of review that runs through Village Hall. If District 36 wanted to tear down a school and sell the land for homes, it could not do so without the Village’s blessing.
Why the assurances are not the point
Take the trustees at their word on intent. The precedent is still the precedent. A special use permit is discretionary relief — it can be granted, conditioned, delayed, or denied. Under this district, the default legal posture of every other taxing body’s land becomes: ask the Village Council first. “We’ll have our village attorney write it in that way” is a promise about one draft, from one Council, at one moment in time. Ordinances outlive the councils that pass them — and this Village’s recent history with its sister agencies is not reassuring. This is the same Village Hall that spent 2023–24 layering six ordinances over the lakefront, put a nine-month moratorium on steep-slope work, and ended up in federal court opposite the Park District over the bluffs. When trustee Rob Apatoff argued the Village must act because past councils “kicked the can” on bluff protections, he was, perhaps unintentionally, making our point: zoning tools built for one dispute become leverage in the next one.
There is an irony here worth naming. In the new district, the Village exempts its own essential public services by right — while its fellow governments’ core functions become special uses on their own land. And this arrives the same month the Village is asking residents whether its own 512 Chestnut parcel should stay open space. Protecting green space is a goal residents have been clear about, in caucus surveys and the comprehensive plan — trustees are right about that, and OTW shares it. The question is whether the way to protect land owned by five elected bodies is to hand the keys to one of them.
What happens next
Council directed staff to proceed with Phase One — and to move faster, not slower: the public hearing goes to the Plan Commission, targeted for September, with the ordinance expected back before Council in October. Because rezoning individual properties requires mailed notice within a 250-foot radius, more than 2,500 households could receive hearing notices. If you get one, read it. If you don’t, go anyway.
Watch the July 21 meeting for yourself: Village of Winnetka — July 21, 2026 Regular Council Meeting (YouTube). The zoning rewrite discussion begins at 58:47; the Open Space district at 1:14:07. Then tell your trustees — and your Park District, School Board and Library trustees — what you think of the precedent before the Plan Commission hearing in September.
Published by Our Town Winnetka · Our Town. Our Future. Your Voice.
Sources: Village of Winnetka, July 21, 2026 Regular Council Meeting (video, agenda items 9A–9B); April 14, 2026 Village Council study session; Winnetka Comprehensive Plan (Winnetka Futures 2040). Quotes are taken from the meeting video’s transcript; timestamps are linked for verification.