Friends of West Park Wilmette

We need your help to Save West Park

CURRENT WEST PARK

PROPOSED CHANGES UNDER VILLAGE CONSIDERATION

Ways you can help

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by emailing us at

friendsofwestparkwilmette@gmail.com

Click through for instructions on how to notify the

Village of Wilmette with your opposition.

Attend a Public Board Meeting to Show Opposition


  • March 16, 2022, 7pm, Wilmette Village Hall second floor – the Park District application for West Park changes will be presented at a public meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals

  • April 6, 2022, 7pm, Wilmette Village Hall second floor – the official hearing at which the Zoning Board of Appeals will vote whether or not to recommend the Park District's application to the Village Board

  • TBD - after the decision of the Zoning Board of Appeals, the Park District application will likely be considered for final approval by the Wilmette Village Board

The Park District's Proposed Changes to West Park


  • Move and downsize playground to be dangerously surrounded by pickleball and paddle tennis courts and the Astroturf playing field

  • Triple the number of lighted courts by adding eight lighted pickleball courts and four more lighted paddle tennis courts, all oriented for paying members of the Platform Tennis Club

  • Guarantee noise violations with pickleball courts—and adjoining paddle tennis courts—just 45 feet from private residential property and lighted play going into evening hours

  • Eliminate the only remaining open natural grass and trees in the park

  • Reduce access to the Community Gardens

  • Dramatically increase noise, light and traffic disturbances for both park users and neighbors


Opposition to the Park District's Proposed Changes


  • The Park District has failed to properly consider the proposed changes to West Park, the only Wilmette park with a playground west of the Edens, including issues of child safety, legal noise limits and other health & environmental impacts

  • The relocation of the playground – from where it sits; safe and secluded – to make space for the eight lighted pickleball courts, will see it dangerously situated between the pickleball courts, a paddle tennis court, and the Astroturf playing field

  • West Park is already overwhelmed and no more can responsibly be added; the little remaining open grass and trees must be preserved

  • The eight lighted pickleball courts together with the adjoining ten lighted paddle tennis courts will be only 45 feet from private residential property, which proximity is unprecedented and would create significant noise and light disturbances for the park’s neighbors

  • The existing six lighted paddle tennis courts in West Park cause disturbances for the park’s neighbors and are being improperly operated until 11 pm every night, an hour later than approved by Village ordinance

  • The Park District needs to find a suitable Wilmette location for pickleball, which does not need to be in the same place as paddle tennis

  • This proposed destruction of a neighborhood park would set a terrible precedent

News Media

West Park neighbors take their fight to the Wilmette Park Board

By Peter Kaspari | 11:50 a.m. February 15, 2022

The group of residents has raised concerns at public meetings since early January, confronting park district officials at community meetings at West Park on Jan. 6 and at the Community Recreation Center on Feb. 9. ...

... nearly a dozen people told the board that they are having issues with the existing paddle ball courts and are concerned that pickleball courts will not only magnify those issues but also will continue to diminish the park’s green space.

Link to full story at The Record North Shore

Our Mission


We are a group of engaged friends and neighbors of West Park in Wilmette, Illinois. For over 60 years West Park has been the only Wilmette park with a playground located west of the Edens Expressway. We are dedicated to promoting a responsible, community-oriented operation of West Park that prioritizes safety and legal compliance, preserves natural grass and trees, and protects the remaining fully public features of a treasured park. The Park District must change its outlook that West Park is not a neighborhood park, and act with consideration and mindfulness of the surrounding residents.

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