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Politics & Government

Glencoe Board Reconsiders Closing Dell Beach

The narrow strip of public land is legally open only during the daytime, but outside visitors have used it after-hours for drinking, often trespassing onto neighboring private property.

The Glencoe Board of Trustees reopened the idea of closing off public access to the Dell Street Beach at Thursday night's meeting, setting up a potential clash between nearby property owners fed up with litter and late-night drinking and those who enjoy the free access to Lake Michigan but don't own lakefront property.

“Litter is all over the beach, and the property rights of those nearby are not being respected,” said Gary Edidon, who lives on Dell Place. “Adult males and females are drinking in red plastic cups, but you know what they're doing.”

The board last tried to close the free, unregulated beach in 2008, but backed down after a public outcry to closing off public lands. The village instead erected signs noting restricted hours — the area is open only from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and no alcohol is permitted. Signs were also put up noting the private property boundaries on either side of the 66-foot wide public portion of the beach. The beach is accessed via a trail through the woods at the east end of Dell Place.

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Glencoe has a much larger public beach a half mile north of Dell Beach, but it costs $6 a day for residents and $9 a day for non-residents.

“Lots of people came and said they had their rights to go on to public property,” said Trustee Joel Solomon. He said the recent outcry against a coffee cart in the Glencoe depot paled in comparison. “The people who turned out were youth groups, people who felt their rights were being violated.”

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But many of the trustees agreed that the current setup did not seem to be working. “If we had wanted to create an attractive nuisance, I don't think we could have created a better one,” said Trustee Joe Keefe.

The Glencoe Public Safety Department has issued 26 citations so far this year for trespassing or underage consumption of alcohol at Dell Beach.

“Ninety-eight percent of the people who go down there are not from Glencoe, and they are a very unsavory bunch,” said Amy Wexler, who lives in a lakeside estate on Lakeside Terrace. “The situation is untenable. It's a couple steps short of mayhem.”

Most of the night-time visitors are teenagers from Northbrook or other north suburban communities off the lake, but citations have been issued for people from as far away as Bloomington, Ind., and Louisville, Ky.

Edidon, who initiated the discussion by presenting the issue before the board during the public comment period, took a more moderate stance than Wexler. He didn't want to close the beach if it could be properly monitored or regulated.

Village President Scott Feldman asked the village staff to return to the board in August or September with some potential solutions and notify the public of a hearing on the fate of the beach.

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