Mayor Orders Forest Park Beach Closed During Coronavirus Pandemic

LAKE FOREST, IL — Mayor George Pandaleon ordered the indefinite closure of Forest Park Beach to the public this week in response to the spread of the new coronavirus. Lake Forest's other parks and trails remain open.

While other North Shore communities shuttered beaches to the public weeks ago, the mayor said, city officials in Lake Forest held out and continued to allow access to its public lakefront.

"Unfortunately large groups of people have been increasingly gathering at the beach," Pandaleon said in a video message. "Although we have mightily resisted doing so, as of Thursday morning the beach will be closed. This unpleasant decision was made to safeguard our community and to do our part to eliminate hot spots for transmission of the virus."

In a statement explaining the decision, Pandaleon said it was based on a formal recommendation from City Manager Jason Wicha, Police Chief Karl Waldorf and Fire Chief Pete Siebert.

"While we recognize that most Lake Forest residents have behaved responsibly, others have not. Increasing our police presence to ensure proper behavior is neither a practical nor responsible solution for us," Pandaleon said.

Illinois Coronavirus Update April 11: More Than 18,000 Cases, 600 Deaths in Illinois — Don't miss updates about precautions in the Chicago area as they are announced — Sign up for Patch news alerts and newsletters.

The city does not have its normal summer staffing at the beach, and it was vital for its police officers and firefighters to be available for actual emergencies, he said.

"I am sure everyone appreciates that our first responders are already putting themselves at risk of exposure to the New Coronavirus to serve you every day," the mayor said. "Potentially exposing them to this virus through unnecessary and inherently close contact with people who are misbehaving at the beach is a poor risk to take."

Residents reported seeing multiple police cars on the beach enforcing the closure Friday.

The mayor emphasized there were nearly 200 acres of other developed parklands in the city, including space preserved by the Lake Forest Open Lands Association, and the closure of the beach would be temporary.

As of Saturday, there were at least 85 cases of COVID-19 detected in Lake Forest and Lake Bluff, according to the Lake County Health Department. Thirty-nine Lake County residents and an undisclosed number of Lake Forest or Lake Bluff residents have died.

"I am confident that we will begin to see a light at the end of this tunnel before too long," the mayor said in his video address. "Please join me and stay the course."