Salem Lakes board approves contested Wilson Runyard Park land swap 4-3

The Village of Salem Lakes Village Board narrowly approved a certified survey map and authorized staff to finalize a land-exchange agreement with the Honecker Trust that will swap a half-acre of cattail-dominated lakefront currently held by the village for an approximately half-acre parcel of higher, drier land to be added to Wilson Runyard Park.

The vote, which followed more than an hour of public comment and prolonged board discussion, authorized the village to proceed with the certified survey map (CSM stamped 04/22/2025) and to complete simultaneous exchange documents in a form approved by village counsel and staff. Board members voted 4-3 to approve the action.

The exchange was first discussed with the board in December 2024 and was referred to the Planning Commission for review and a CSM. That commission approved the swap as long as it did not create a nonconforming lot; staff then worked with an ambitsurvey that shifted the parcel’s orientation so it would remain contiguous to the park and not make the Honecker parcel nonconforming. The matter returned to the Planning Commission in May for the CSM and was then placed before the board after the Planning…