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Riverwoods trustees delay action after residents cite health, nuisance concerns over outdoor burning
Summary
The Village of Riverwoods Board of Trustees did not adopt changes to its landscape-waste burning rules after more than a dozen residents described daily smoke, health effects and enforcement failures. Trustees and the fire chief discussed enforcement and public-safety tradeoffs; the item will return late February.
The Village of Riverwoods Board of Trustees declined to adopt the proposed ordinance amending rules on outdoor burning on Jan. 7 after lengthy public comment and trustee discussion. The board did not pass the draft ordinance and commissioners said they will take more time to review resident emails and enforcement options before returning to the item in late February.
Residents from multiple neighborhoods told the board the current rules allowed repeated, long-duration fires that had made their homes uninhabitable at times. “To your dismay, the progress our community made toward limiting outdoor burning last year was entirely undone in a single board meeting on Dec. 17,” resident Mag Retelewski said, reading a petition signed by more than 25 people. She cited health risks and said some neighbors had complained numerous times without relief.
Janine Gray, a 21-year resident, told trustees she believed a small group of neighbors was responsible for extended burns that ran “morning to night, day in, day out,” and urged fines for repeat offenders. Laura Millman said broader services for landscape-waste collection could reduce burning and asked the board to investigate alternatives such as a pickup program.
Chief Cameron, representing the local fire district, told the board that open burning carries an inherent risk and is harder to fight in areas without hydrants. “Anytime you’re burning, it’s an inherent risk to any home,” he said, adding departments from neighboring towns sometimes must be called in for larger incidents and that professionals can reduce risk but homeowners are not always prepared.
Trustees and staff discussed enforcement challenges. Trustee Clayton said many of the situations described likely violate existing nuisance or burning rules and argued the board should consider how enforcement would work under any new language. Trustee Hollander and others proposed time- and manner-based restrictions — for example, a repeating window such as the first two weeks of each month — as an enforcement-friendly compromise.
Board members and residents also discussed alternatives to burning. Several trustees and residents described the village contract with LRS for landscape-waste pickup: LRS offers subscription and per-collection services and will collect bundled waste if it meets size/weight rules; staff said LRS will collect up to 10 35-gallon containers on subscription and will pick up bundles if they are tied and meet size limits. Trustees said they would also explore outreach, education and better use of the village’s existing collection options.
No final ordinance was adopted. A trustee moved to approve the draft ordinance as presented, but the motion received no second and died; the board agreed to gather more resident input and bring the item back for further consideration no earlier than the late-February meeting. Staff said they will compile resident emails and consider possible enforcement mechanisms and time/place restrictions before the next discussion.
For now, the existing village ordinance remains in force until the board votes on any change.
