Winnetka Park District moves forward with pilot program for new dog beach
A drawn-out battle over off-leash dog access along Winnetka's lakefront appeared to clear another hurdle July 1 as Winnetka Park District Board commissioners approved portions of a pilot program for a new dog beach at Tower Road Beach.
The pilot program marks the latest attempt at compromise between the Village of Winnetka and the Winnetka Park District, which are two separate governmental entities with neither having power over the other, in the saga of where dogs should be allowed to roam free on the beach.
For many years, Winnetka's Centennial Beach operated as a hub for off-leash dog activity, but the beach altered its policy in 2023 to mandate that dogs remain leashed until the area could be fenced off in compliance with updated county regulations.
But proposals earlier this year to corral dogs by building a chain-link fence around the beach unleashed new disdain among residents and Village Council members alike, with some calling the proposed fence at Centennial Beach the makings of a "cage."
With the fence ultimately rejected by Winnetka's Village Council in May following unanimous negative recommendations from its advisory bodies, officials have proposed a new temporary solution of relocating dog beach operations from Centennial Beach to the Village-owned section of Tower Road Beach for limited morning hours.
The Park District Board unanimously moved forward with these plans at their July 1 Special Board meeting, in-part adopting a lease amendment related to the pilot proposal in front of a packed room of residents eager for progress.
Under the proposed agreement, Tower Road Beach will operate as an off-leash dog beach from 6 to 8:30 a.m. on weekdays and 6 to 9:00 a.m. on weekends until Sept. 7. The beach will then open for general public access following those periods.
Winnetka Park District Executive Director Shannon Nazzal told Pioneer Press the starting date for off-leash access at Tower Road Beach has yet to be set, as district officials are waiting to hear back from the village as to whether "it wishes to continue discussions regarding the implementation of the pilot program."
"The village, Council members and staff have expended a tremendous amount of time and energy in planning their pilot program," said Winnetka Park District President Elise Gibson to commissioners at the July 1 Special Board meeting.
"We appreciate the work that has gone into the plan and I think it's a real solution for dog owners who want to have their dogs off-leash on a beach and for whom the early morning hours work."
Gibson added that the park district Board was unaware until now that the village’s pilot program allowed for Centennial Beach to continue to permit dogs on-leash during the trial period.
Earlier plans shared with the district called for a relocation of dog access, with Centennial becoming a passive people beach without dogs.
The option to keep Centennial open for dogs on-leash was "never proposed to us,” Gibson voiced at the July 1 meeting, but “certainly would have been considered by our Board," she said.
"Up until last night, the proposal was to move the dog beach to Tower as part of that pilot program."
Park District commissioners later approved the pilot program on the condition that Centennial remain open under its current operations as an on-leash dog beach.
Just one night prior, Winnetka Village Council members voted to table further discussions of the dog beach at their June 30 meeting, with Winnetka President Bob Dearborn stating that the Village was "not together” with the Park District on the amended Tower Road lease language and needed to defer action until both governments, the village and park district, were aligned on the proposal.
According to Dearborn, roughly half of the beach at Tower Road is owned by the Village of Winnetka and half owned by the Winnetka Park District.
The Village-owned land has been leased by the Park District since 1942, operating it for public swimming and bathing access.
"We think this [dog beach] would work very well, we have the logistics down, we don't think it would be chaos on the beach, we don't think it'd be dangerous…but we're not together on it yet," Dearborn said.
Due to lease language discrepancies, Dearborn said the village would be tabling a further decision until both parties agreed.
But that agreement appeared to be moving forward a mere 24 hours later, with the Park District Board approving the amended agreement.
Park District commissioners decided to vote down some sections of the village’s proposed edits, however, including language regarding revoking a resident's privileges to use Tower Road Beach when their dog is found off-leash outside the boundaries of the area more than three times.
Commissioners also rejected language allowing parties to agree to terminate the program for "material health and safety reasons," including a "chronic pattern of breaches of the implementation plan.”
"Listen, this agency is pro-dog," said Park District Commissioner David Seaman at the July 1 meeting.
"Those edits make this agency, the [Park] Board, seem anti off-leash dog."
"We're telling the Village how to run their business," Seaman added, "which I just can't stand…this edit is not at all in the spirit of cooperation which we're trying to do."
"This is the Village's pilot where they're responsible," said Park District Commissioner Colleen Root. "It is not our duty to tell the Village how to be responsible."
The commissioner-approved sections of the dog beach pilot program will now head back to Winnetka's Village Council for their vote on the Park District’s amendments. A date for that has not yet been determined, according to Park District Executive Director Nazzal.
"We will continue to endeavor to work with the village for a solution here," President Gibson said.
Village Council members met July 7 for their next scheduled Board meeting but did not address the pilot program.
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This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 8:42 AM.