Construction could begin as soon as this summer on a new South Elgin police station, which will include a meeting room for South Elgin Village Board meetings.
Final design plans are to be submitted to the village board soon, followed by the construction bids being solicited and contracts awarded for the new building at the southeast corner of La Fox and State streets, Village Administrator Steve Super said.
Estimated to cost about $20 million, the station will be funded with $7.8 million already in hand, cash reserves and a bond sale of up to about $9 million, Super said.
The debt will be repaid with gaming tax revenue and possibly sales tax money, he said.
“The village board is committed to completing the project without asking the taxpayers for any additional revenues,” Super said.
Construction should take about a year, he said.
Once complete, the village’s parks and recreation department will move into the police department’s former location in the village municipal annex building and work on converting the former Lions Club building for parks and recreation programing space might start, he said.
South Elgin Police Chief Jerry Krawczyk said the current station has outlived its usefulness.
“The space was full when the station opened in 1997, and staffing has grown more than 30% since then,” he said.
The police department currently has 33 officers, and that number will likely grow to 40 over the next several years, Krawczyk said.
They also need more space for training and the storage of evidence and gear, he said.
“We currently have social workers assisting victims in shared office areas … they’ll have designated, private spaces in the new station,” Krawczyk said.
“To attract and recruit the best incoming police officers and retain our excellent team, we need to provide adequate training space and basic amenities such as locker rooms and workout facilities,” he said. “The station will meet (the department’s) needs for decades to come.”
That the new building will also provide a space for meetings, including those of the village board, is a boon, Village President Steve Ward said.
“The current village board room is vastly undersized,” he said. “Anytime there’s a meeting that draws a large gathering — police officer swearing-in ceremonies, recognition of local sports teams — we have people waiting in the hallway unable to see or hear the proceedings.”
It will be outfitted with current technology, sound equipment and other amenities the board could not justify retrofitting into the current space, Ward said.
“Beyond village trustee meetings, the space will be used by police to conduct training sessions and also available for regional training programs hosted by public safety agencies, local businesses and other organizations,” he said. “This project will provide the largest multipurpose meeting/training space available within the village, and we anticipate it will be used all the time.”
The municipal annex building is located within a regulatory floodway, which limits how much the village can invest in the facility and makes more permanent facilities necessary, Super said.
For that reason, South Elgin also plans to seek grant money to rehabilitate the former Lions Club building at 500 Fulton St. so it can be used for programming space, primarily for seniors and children, he said.
“There is not a definitive timetable at this point since the village is seeking grant funds for the remodeling efforts,” Super said. “But given the solid condition of the existing facility, it should be in the next few years.”
South Elgin purchased the building from the Lions Club a few years ago for about $350,000 when the organization dissolved its South Elgin chapter.
“The village felt the property was an important asset for the community, and it provided the only off-street parking in the area for youth baseball games at Lions Park,” Super said.
Renovation work is estimated to cost $1 million. In addition to potential grants, the village also has set aside some money to be used only for parks initiatives, he said.
“These funds come from new housing starts in the form of parks fees when a new development is not providing complete park services,” Super said.
The final plans for the annex building and its parking lots are not fully developed at this point, but will include a combination of open space, a plaza area and public parking, he said.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
