Sugar Grove talks new village hall, but questions how to pay for it
If Sugar Grove builds a new village hall, it should be at least 8,000 square feet and bring the community development department back home, trustees said last week.
But they and President Sean Michels are still questioning how the village would pay for one.
The board gave the village administrator permission in October to pursue a new village hall, to be built at 100 S. Municipal Drive. It was presented with three options for architects to design:
• A 6,000-square-foot building for the administration department, and a "modest" board room at approximately $2.4 million to build and furnish;
• An 8,000-square-foot building, for administration, community development, the board room, and more room for additional workers, at $3.2 million;
• A 10,000-square-foot building with a larger board room, at up to $4 million.
"I don't know if we are really at a point to discuss this," Michels said. "I'm not ready to commit to a new structure at this point."
Trustee Kevin Geary said he leaned toward the 10,000-square-foot option.
"But the bigger question for me is how are we going to pay for this," including ongoing operation, Geary said.
The village already owns the land, and the site has an 11,504-square-foot building pad on it.
The village bought the office park at Municipal and Bastian drives in 2014 for $1 million. It was supposed to have five buildings. Only two were built. The village rents those out.
The Sugar Grove Municipal Center at 10 S. Municipal, which also contains the police department, is about 6,000 square feet. It was built in 1991.
If the village hall moves, the police department would stay put and expand.
The community development workers are stationed at the public works department at 601 Heartland Drive, about three miles from the Municipal Center.
According to a staff report, the village could pay for about 20 percent of the cost with cash on hand from impact fees property developers have paid the village, then borrow money for the rest, to be repaid with future impact fees.
Sugar Grove officials had planned in 2006 to build a new police station, kitty-corner to the current village hall at Municipal and Route 30. The village was in a growth spurt, at one point issuing 377 new-housing construction permits a year.
It abandoned that idea in 2007 when the real estate market started crashing.