A billionaire’s donation offer still has Winnetka Park District officials wary as commissioners weigh the merits and drawbacks of the proposed agreement.
A proposed agreement for a $3 million donation from billionaire resident Justin Ishbia to the Winnetka Park District ruffled feathers at the Nov. 30 Park District Board meeting.
Several members of the board, along with public commenters, called the agreement drafted by Ishbia’s team “insulting” and referenced issues the Park District has had previously negotiating with Ishbia over the dormant proposed land swap deal.
“Whenever there is an opportunity for any possible disagreement, that has occurred and delay has occurred. There have been promises that have been made and then withdrawn,” Commissioner Colleen Root said. “I look at this document in absolute disgust.”
Commissioner James Hemmings agreed with Root’s sentiment.
The agreement came as a result of meetings between the Park Board negotiations team — Board President Christina Codo, Vice President Eric Lussen and Board Counsel Adam Simon — with Ishbia’s team.
“We are honored to contribute to the WPD Board’s vision of activating, stabilizing and enhancing these two parks and beaches,” Ishbia wrote in a letter to Winnetka Park District commissioners. “We look forward to completing the donation agreement while ensuring the use supports the causes and interests, so much of the community and we support.”
The land swap agreement signed in October 2020 would see the property at 261 Sheridan Road owned by Ishbia given to the Park District in exchange for an equally sized portion at the southern edge of Centennial Park. Ishbia owns the property immediately south of Centennial, which he has since bulldozed and consolidated into a 3.7 acre lot where he plans to construct a $43.7 million home for his family.
If completed, the land swap would allow the Park District to create one contiguous beach, a dream the community has held for decades.
The public has closely followed the land swap saga with opponents saying the Park District shouldn’t be in the business of trading public land with a private citizen even to fulfill a long standing goal. A lawsuit by resident Robert Schriesheim claims the land swap violated the Public Trust Doctrine, which states the land under the lake is held in trust by the Park District for the residents.
Cook County Circuit Judge Eve Reilly dismissed Schriesheim’s suit on Oct. 2 but the suit has since been refiled in accordance with court guidance.
After public outcry regarding the construction at Ishbia’s property, the Winnetka Village Council has since taken ordinances to limit construction on lake bluffs into consideration. Previously passed ordinances have halted new lakefront construction and added the village to the list of agencies the Park District has to submit permits to, further delaying the process.
The donation was announced during the Sept. 7 Park District Board meeting by David Williams, a representative for the Ishbia family, who said the funding would be used to simultaneously complete phases one and two of the plans to rebuild Elder Lane and Centennial beaches. The Park District currently only has funding available to complete the first phase.
Ishbia further commented to Crain’s Chicago Business the donation came with “no strings attached.” In a statement sent to Pioneer Press, he said he hoped the donation would be used to move the Park District plans forward and open up access to the beaches sooner.
According to Lussen, Ishbia has since walked back his “no string attached” statement saying he meant the donation agreement isn’t tied to the land swap deal. Ishbia also reiterated such in the letter to commissioners saying that was always the intent.
“I have some significant misgivings about Mr. Ishbia’s recasting of his ‘no strings attached’ language,” Hemmings said. “If we’re going to accept an (donation) agreement, it’s something more like a no strings attached agreement than this is because this is nothing like that.”
Simon went through the donation agreement paragraph by paragraph with board members, flagging concerns. The largest of those concerned the time frame of the agreement, which would allow the Ishbia Family Foundation oversight for 100 years.
“The 100 year conversation, that we’ve gone round and round. We did discuss it a lot,” Lussen said. “We recognize that the Winnetka Park District is responsible for the maintenance of assets.”
Initial asks for naming rights of the dog beach planned on Centennial Beach were scrapped from the donation agreement, according to Lussen.
The donation agreement also outlined the payment schedule for the $3 million, which would see $1 million given at the start of the project, another $1 million when it’s completed and the final $1 million a year following construction completion.
Hemmings asked Simon to include language in the donation agreement stipulating the foundation must have the available funding in its coffers before they cut each check. Requests to put the funding in escrow were shot down by Ishbia’s team.
“They want to schedule the donations so that the tax benefits are spread out over more than one year,” Simon said. “The element in here that describes the condition of the installments is designed to guarantee that the plans that you’re representing to the public to be built are actually built so that between now and the future, there aren’t changes in the direction of the Park District.”
Simon reiterated he doesn’t want to make it appear Ishbia is dictating how the project is built but that he wants to ensure the plans set forward are the ones that are completed due to a previous set of permits that were pulled. Ishbia was a co-applicant in those original permits but they were narrowly pulled from consideration by state agencies in June 2022.
“I communicated to the Delegates that the $3 million donation would need to come with the guarantee that the WPD will build and maintain the elements of the 2024 Project that they designed, shared with me, and ultimately approved,” Ishbia wrote. “I only want to support the 2024 Project as it was presented to me.”
In the letter, he stated the donation would be honored if the funding was used only for phase two of the project — which includes the breakwater at Centennial Beach, the ADA accessible pathway, the dog beach and the fencing around the dog beach — and the structures will remain where they are placed. He also stated the payment structure should remain as it has been negotiated.
“We are not amenable to funding a donation where we agree on a plan, designed exclusively by the WPD, and then have the WPD unilaterally change its mind,” read the letter.
The donation agreement is between the Park District and the Ishbia Family Foundation, set up to manage the donation, so it allows for no personal liability meaning if left unpaid there isn’t one person either party can go after.
Opponents to the deal, along with Root, argued the deal makes it seem that Centennial Park is for sale.
Resident Randy Whitchurch said the donation should be flat out rejected, calling it “one-sided” and saying it shows the kind of person the Park District is dealing with.
“Calling this a donation agreement is absurd. It is clearly designed to cater to the outrageous demands of a private party,” Mary Garrison read from a statement by Laurie Peterson. “If this were to go through the name of Centennial Park would take on a terribly ironic twist. It would be really a century of shame park.”
Garrison said continuing to negotiate with Ishbia is outrageous and the Park District doesn’t need the donation to survive.
“Aren’t we the taxpayers? Don’t we own the park?” Katie Stevens asked. “There is no benefit to us … I would not to this for $100 million.”
“This was never a donation. This was a contract. This was a way to get something they wanted,” Ted Wynnychenko said. “He wants parts of phase one that he wants to maintain for 100 years because it has a benefit for him whether he admits it or not publicly.”
Simon, Codo and Lussen plan to take the edited donation agreement back to Ishbia’s team to see if a consensus can be reached.
“In a conversation with representation of IFF we can say, ‘Here’s what our board said’ and they might say, ‘Thanks so much, we’re done,'” Lussen said. “That’s ok … when somebody offers an entity that you love, like I do the Park District … we say ‘great’ and they say ‘there are conditions associated with it’ and if we can’t stomach that, it’s ok. But we’re not going to get that donation and that’s fine.”
