Elmhurst Voters Likely To Weigh In On Bandshell Dispute

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst voters are likely to get a chance to weigh in on the controversy over the Wilder Park's bandshell's location.

The dispute has divided the park board for more than a year, resulting in heated moments.

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On Thursday, the Elmhurst Park District released a memo in which two top park officials, Executive Director Jim Rogers and board President Kevin Graf, recommended that the board place the issue on the November ballot.

The advisory referendum would not bind the board, which voted in January to build the bandshell on the Wilder Mansion's east lawn.

Last week, Rogers rejected a petition with nearly 1,200 signatures to put an advisory referendum about the Wilder bandshell's location on the November ballot.

The petitioners contended they had met the requirements to put the question to the voters.

However, Rogers said state law bars citizen-initiated advisory referendums for park districts. So he deemed the petition legally invalid.

In response, an attorney who specializes in election law disagreed with Rogers' legal reasoning.

With Monday's planned vote, the park district is relying on a part of state law that allows public bodies to put advisory referendums on the ballot.

Graf's support for putting the referendum on the ballot is critical. He belonged to the 4-3 majority that decided to build the bandshell on the east lawn.

From the beginning of the debate in spring 2025, Graf and members Meghan Scarsella, Claire Kubiesa and Susan Smentek supported the east lawn site.

Meanwhile, Vince Spaeth, Carolyn Ubriaco and Tim Sheehan dissented. They sided with residents who opposed the site and argued it would interrupt the sightlines to the iconic Wilder Mansion.

Last fall, the district's own survey showed residents overwhelmingly opposed the east lawn site. Many wanted another location in the park.

The board's agenda packet for Monday contains a resolution in favor of the advisory referendum.

The question's language is identical to the petition's: "Shall the Elmhurst Park District locate a 54-foot-long, 41-foot-deep, 21.5-foot-high new bandshell on the East Lawn of the Wilder Mansion in Wilder Park?"

The bandshell was included as a tiny part of a $90 million park district referendum that voters approved in November 2024. The vast majority, $85 million, was earmarked for a new Wagner Community Center.