One Campus - One Community

Skokie Playfield Master Plan

Welcome to the project website for Skokie Playfields Master Plan. This page will serve as the community’s central resource for project updates, engagement opportunities, meeting materials, surveys, and key documents throughout the planning process.

We’re glad you’re here, because this plan starts with listening.

What is the Skokie Playfield Master Plan?

The Winnetka Park District has launched a planning study focused on the Skokie Playfield campus — one of the District’s largest and most active recreation destinations.

This master plan will take a comprehensive look at the entire campus, including recreation programs and activities, athletic fields and facilities, parking and circulation, pedestrian connections, open space, and opportunities for future improvements. The study will also explore how the site can better support year-round recreation while addressing existing challenges such as congestion, aging infrastructure, environmental conditions, and evolving community needs.

The Park District has assembled a team of planners, landscape architects, architects, and engineers to evaluate the site and develop ideas for how the campus can continue to serve the community for years to come.

This is a long-range planning effort designed to ask important questions, explore possibilities, and create a roadmap for the future.

This is your community space and recreational hub. We want to get at the heart of what the community desires - our intent is to learn what is important to you on this site, and from there we will examine how we can make it all flow and function properly.

Didn’t the Park District just do a master plan?

You may be wondering if the Park District did this already? The answer is, not exactly.

In 2024, the Park District completed a District-wide Comprehensive Master Plan (CMP). That effort looked broadly at parks, facilities, programs, and priorities across the entire Park District system. Through that process, community feedback consistently identified Skokie Playfields as an important community asset that would benefit from more focused study and strategic reinvestment.

The CMP helped identify why Skokie Playfields deserves additional attention. This project is the next step — taking a deeper dive into this specific campus to better understand opportunities, constraints, and long-term possibilities.

Why are we studying the site now?

Skokie Playfields is already home to a wide variety of recreation amenities and programs, including ice sports, racquet sports, golf, athletic fields, walking paths, and community gathering spaces.

As community interests evolve and facilities age, the Park District wants to better understand:

What’s working well today
What could work better
What amenities may be missing
How the campus can function more efficiently and cohesively in the future

The study will also consider important site realities such as parking, circulation, accessibility, and environmental conditions that influence how the campus can evolve over time.

How can I participate?

Your input is a crucial part of this process. Throughout the study, there will be multiple opportunities for community members, user groups, neighbors, and stakeholders to share feedback, ideas, and priorities. We want to hear what things you value most about the campus, what could work better, what needs more love, and what is missing? As ideas are developed, they will be shared with the community, Park Board, and stakeholders for feedback along the way.

Take a look at our timeline below and be sure to check back regularly for updates, surveys, engagement events, and project materials. We look forward to planning the future of Skokie Playfield together.

Phase 1

The Engage & Analyze Phase focuses on listening and learning. The Planning and Design Team will hold conversations with local leaders, District staff, user groups, affiliate groups, league/club representatives, management groups, and other key stakeholders to discuss campus issues and gain insights into key topics. Stakeholders will also include students, the School District, and other interested commissions and groups. These conversations, along with site tours and mapping, will build a shared understanding of how the Skokie Playfield Campus functions today. This phase will culminate with an Existing Conditions Report & Presentation that synthesizes the stakeholder and community engagement feedback, in-depth analysis of site/building existing conditions, and preliminary recommendations.

Phase 2

In the Envision Phase, the project team will refine ideas into a clear, actionable master plan vision through continued collaboration with District staff and the community. Key activities include continued project team meetings to review and advance design concepts, followed by a second community workshop to gather feedback on draft goals and plan alternatives. An online survey and virtual open house will expand opportunities for input, while continued pop-up events will give residents and stakeholders an opportunity to engage in familiar community settings. Feedback collected throughout this phase will directly inform the final plan and implementation.

Phase 3

In the final phase, Plan & Implement, the project team will refine and finalize the campus master plan and implementation strategy. Through staff and project team collaboration we will review the draft final plan, present the final visions to stakeholders, board members, and the community. All finalized materials will also be available online to ensure public access and comment. The process will conclude with a formal presentation of the final plan to the Park Board for review and adoption.

Our Team:

The Lakota Group

A Chicago-based firm specializing in urban planning, design, landscape architecture, community engagement, and historical preservation. The Lakota Group brings creative solutions that inspire action and result in beautiful, people-driven places. The firm has over 30 years of experience in creating plans that build connections between people, their environments, and their history.

Gewalt Hamilton Associates, Inc.

A Chicagoland-based full-service civil engineering firm that is committed to providing a personal approach in service to Municipal, Township, County and State organizations as well as private sector clients. The firm excels in forward-thinking engineering and key support services thanks to their expansive service lines and dedicated employee-owners.

Williams Architects

A Chicago-based firm that has over 50 years of experience partnering with communities, agencies, and organizations to create spaces that are purposeful, enduring, and responsive to real needs. Their work is grounded in collaboration, bringing together architecture, planning, engineering, and design to shape solutions that support how people live, work, gather, and grow.

Get Involved!

Opportunities to get involved will be available throughout the process. From surveys and workshops to focus groups, there will be multiple ways to share your ideas, ask questions, and help shape the future of the campus at every phase of the plan. Click the icons below to participate today.