Is Winnetka Going To The Dogs?

Here's the deal:

1. People want access to Elder Lane Beach when it opens this summer for swimming.
2. Dog owners want their pets to have access to nearby Centennial Beach.
3. Dog owners let their pets run off leash at Centennial.
4. Winnetka regulations say dogs must be leashed.
5. Cook County regulations require areas where dogs are off leash to be fenced.

That's it. That's the issue. Separate spaces for people and dogs -- it's a basic question of how to manage a shared public space safely, legally, and with some common sense.

Yet, what should be a straightforward operational decision -- erecting a temporary fence at Centennial Park so dogs can be off leash -- has turned into a process typically reserved for international peace treaties. Winnetka has been mired in years of ruminations and controversy, proposals and counter proposals, testimonials, bureaucracy, grievances and rising tensions.

It is embarrassing.

What the Park District Is Actually Trying to Do

The Winnetka Park District is attempting to allow continued use of a dog beach while also reopening Elder Beach for families, children, and swimmers. It's the best of all worlds for a majority of our community.

These goals are not mutually exclusive—but they do require structure.

Cook County's animal control ordinance is clear.

If dogs are allowed to be off leash, the area must meet specific criteria, including controlled access and a secured perimeter. In plain English: an off-leash dog park requires a fence. This isn't discretionary. It's the rule set by Cook County.

The Park District didn't invent this requirement, and it doesn't have the authority to waive it. What it does have is the responsibility to comply. And that's exactly what dog parks in communities up and down the North Shore do -- they comply.

A permanent plan that provides ADA access to the beach as well as a bypass around the dog beach, met with resistance from the Plan Commission last year. The Park District suspended the permanent permit application and instead applied for a temporary fence permit.

Since then, both the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the United States Army Corps of Engineers have issued permits for the temporary fence. Unfortunately, the Village of Winnetka advised the Park District that it would have to secure a Special Use Permit even for just a temporary fence.

So, to finally erect the fence, The Parks District has to also submit its proposal to the Plan Commission and the Zoning Commission, which will advise the Village Council. The Village Council, however, may come to its own decision regardless of the advice it receives.

It should not be this difficult.

And all you have to do is look one community to the south of us -- Wilmette -- where they have a perfectly good solution at Gilson Dog Beach.

Even on their website, they state:

Wilmette's dog beach, located at the south end of Gillson Park, is a popular off-leash destination for many four-footed friends and their owners. Dogs must have a permit to use the Dog Beach. Please note: Dogs must be on leash at all times in Gillson Park while on their way to the dog beach.

Why This Became So Contentious

Part of the problem is that a relatively small but highly vocal few has turned this into a battle royal and anointed themselves the rightful defenders of public beach access. We would argue, however, that the regulations and laws in place serve that role.

Some insist that any fence violates the public trust. Some parse the distinction without a difference between a dog beach and a dog park at the beach. Others argue—incorrectly—that shoreline access must be completely uninterrupted everywhere at all times.

But that's not how the shoreline already works.

According to the department's staff report on the fence, the rule that applies for the public-private property demarcation is:

"If your feet are wet, you are on public property, and if your feet are dry then you are on private property… the demarcation line in Illinois between public and private land is the same demarcation line that identifies where land held in trust begins and ends -- both lines are the Normal Waterline."

It is also true, however, that up and down the North Shore, there are fences, stairs, erosion controls, groins, gates, and designated access points that temporarily impede pedestrian access.

Much of Illinois's shoreline has been engineered and reinforced for decades to manage erosion. Absolute, continuous access has never been a reality and never will be.

Thank goodness we have great public beaches in Winnetka.

And here's the uncomfortable truth: residents cannot have unfettered pedestrian shoreline access and an off-leash dog area in the same footprint at the same time.

One necessarily limits the other. That doesn't mean one side "wins." It means balance is required.

The Park District's proposal is exactly that—a balance.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

Yes, yes, we know the Robert Frost poem questions the necessity of walling off neighboring orchard lands (as trees are at no risk of achieving mobility and intruding on adjacent lands). But where animals were concerned, yes, a fence made sense. That was and is understandable.

Somehow, the fence itself has become a proxy villain in this story. It is almost a symbol of loss or victory for one side or the other, rather than a tool for safety and compliance.

Without a fence, the Park District is left in an impossible position: expected to allow off-leash dogs while simultaneously being accused of failing to control them.

Moreover, having undertaken a lengthy process to install a fence but then not doing so, would likely render the village more culpable should an off-leash dog attack a Centennial beachgoer.

That's not fair to dog owners or beachgoers.

Process without Progress

You're probably familiar with Winnetka's motto:

Progress without Change

(As if such a thing were possible).

But we think it's more accurate to say that Winnetka's Village Council substitutes meetings, task forces and zoning boards for decision making, action and progress.

The Village has created bureaucracy to defend the status quo long past it's time.

The Timeline

• The temporary fence proposal goes before the Winnetka Plan Commission tonight, Wednesday, January 28, 2026, 7pm, Winnetka Village Hall, Council Chambers
• It then heads to the Winnetka Zoning Board of Appeals on February 9.
• After that, it lands where it should have been resolved long ago: the Winnetka Village Council.

At some point (meaning now) the community deserves a decision: Up or down, Yes or no.

To be perfectly clear, at Our Town Winnetka, we favor a "Yes" -- both for a win for the community AND a show of compromise between the Village Council and the Park District.

The Sensible Path Forward: Make a Decision

Reasonable people can disagree about aesthetics, design, and long-term plans. But the current proposal isn't about perfection. It's about serving a diverse community of dog lovers and beach goes, thoughtfully and safely. It is not about kowtowing to the few vocal few or the behind-the-scenes manipulator.

Good governance means choosing a path forward. It has been a couple years and counting, but installing a fence should not be this hard. And it shouldn't take any longer. In May, Elder will open for swimming, and this issue should be resolved before that happens.

Winnetka deserves a common sense resolution.

We Deserve Better.