Deadline: The WCC Annual Survey Closes Tomorrow

Neighbors,

Tomorrow — Friday, August 14 at midnight — the Winnetka Caucus Council’s Annual Survey closes. It takes about ten minutes, it is open to every resident, and it is the single most direct way to put your priorities in front of the people who will choose Winnetka’s next leaders.

Take the WCC Annual Survey now →

Here is why those ten minutes matter. The Caucus Council uses the Annual Survey to write the platforms that guide every elected board in the village — and to shape the questions its slating committees put to candidates. Those interviews begin next week.

Of critical note, eight seats come through the caucus gate this cycle: the Village President, three Village Trustees, and four Park District Commissioners. As well as important positions on the Winnetka School Board and Winnetka-Northfield Library Board. The slate is ratified in early October amongst all 64 WCC members, then presented at the Fall Town Hall on Thursday, October 15. Elections are next spring.

What you say by tomorrow becomes what candidates must answer for this fall.

Three issues we are following closely show exactly what is at stake.

The “Open Space District”

On July 21, the Village Council advanced a new zoning district that would sweep every publicly owned green space — parks, schools, the library, New Trier — under Village Hall’s permitting authority, layered on top of the independent boards that already govern that land. It is moving fast: Plan Commission in September, a Council vote targeted for October, before the community even gathers at the October 15 Town Hall. Our plain-English explainer is here: The Truth About the New “Open Space District”.

The next Council hearing is Tuesday, August 18.

The Post Office Site

After 44 years, the decision on 512 Chestnut finally reaches Council in October — and the six concepts on the table carry very different price tags. Net Village cost runs from $1 million to roughly $25 million, against a total 2026 capital plan of $39.5 million. Annual maintenance runs $100,000 to $500,000 — a line that never ends, worth $3 million to $15 million over thirty years. Only three of the six concepts invite private capital, generate land proceeds, and grow the tax base rather than drawing it down.

Our concept-by-concept analysis: 44 Years, Six Concepts, and the One Question the Village Never Asked.

The Bigger Picture

The post office and the zoning rewrite are symptoms of one underlying question: how well is Winnetka governing itself? A $100 million stormwater project. A $116 million budget with rising fees. A power contract running to 2055 without pricing protections. We laid out the full landscape here: Think Big — The Top Ten Issues Shaping Winnetka’s Future.

Every one of these decisions — what gets built, what gets rezoned, what gets spent, and what gets asked of taxpayers — will be made by the boards the Caucus slates this fall. That is why the Annual Survey is where all of these threads converge: it is the community’s chance to tell the slating committees, in writing and on the record, what the next class of leaders should stand for before a single interview happens.

One cautionary tale from recent history: a survey only speaks for the people who take it. In 2024, an abstract question about “preserving open space” drew 75% support — and that single number is now cited to justify a fast-moving ordinance with real costs and consequences. When participation is low, a handful of responses are treated as the voice of 12,750 residents.

Don’t let this one be decided without you.

Published by Our Town Winnetka · Our Town. Our Future. Your Voice.

Sources: Winnetka Caucus Council 2026 Annual Survey (closes August 14, 2026); Winnetka Caucus Council slating calendar (slate ratified early October; Fall Town Hall October 15, 2026). See also OTW’s Open Space District explainer, analysis of the six post office concepts, and Think Big — Top Ten Issues.