St. Charles police station headed to Valley Shopping Center
In February, St. Charles aldermen took a 5-4 preliminary vote to move the city's police station to a site on Red Gate Road, at the edge of the city. No one, including the aldermen, seemed excited about the plan.
On Tuesday, aldermen took a new vote. This time the plan will move the police station to the site of the Valley Shopping Center near the heart of the city.
The audience, including about a dozen police officers, applauded the unanimous vote.
City Administrator Mark Koenen described the 6.5-acre parcel the new station will sit on as "a site that I would suggest the community has said we should be looking at. It's on Route 64, easy to find, pedestrian-friendly and what I would consider the greater downtown area."
Officials took a closer look at the Valley Shopping Center site after the four aldermen voting against the Red Gate plan expressed concerns about what sort of message putting the police station on the fringe of the city would send.
Police have played an integral role in curbing rowdy behavior at downtown taverns, enhancing the appeal of key economic developments along Main Street. Relocating the police station became a campaign issue in the April municipal elections.
The result is the city will now purchase a portion of the Valley Shopping Center site for about $715,000. Officials believe moving the police station there will allow it to maintain maximum visibility while providing a boost to the dormant retail strip.
Construction of the new station will begin in 2018. The cost of the station will come with a completed design. City staff members estimated a new station at the Red Gate Road site would have cost about $18.6 million.
Mayor Ray Rogina said keeping the police station in the downtown area has multiple benefits.
"It allows the city to rehabilitate a depressed property for a greater common good," Rogina said. "And I am most happy for our police force."
Police Chief James Keegan came to the city in 2014 with a history of helping build a new station in his former role in Streamwood. He told aldermen he is very happy to work on a modern facility St. Charles can be proud of for the next 50 years.
The current station is outdated and too small by current policing standards.
"I just had the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders," Keegan said of Tuesday's vote. "Mayor Rogina and the council showed tonight they understand the important role that a police officer has in not only maintaining a community but also shaping it. Every other day we are about the business of helping others. Tonight, it's about us."
Officials have not yet decided what to do with the current police station behind city hall. Koenen has said the city may sell the riverfront property, lease it or repurpose it for a new use.