Sugar Grove forced to hold off on municipal center

Citing decreased permit revenue from the housing slowdown, the Sugar Grove village board has scrapped plans to build a $20 million municipal center to serve as a village hall and police station.

"With the slowdown in housing starts, we can't afford this building," Trustee Mary Heineman said at last week's committee of the whole meeting. "We told the residents this would be built with permit fees."

Trustees Thomas Renk, Melisa Taylor and Robert Bohler agreed.

"We'd run a deficit," Bohler said. "We don't have the necessary growth right now. Some experts say the housing market won't pick up for another five years."

"With the revenue down, we'll have to hold off," Village President Sean Michels said. "Trustees can work with staff to come up with alternatives."

The decision comes two years after a study recommended a larger municipal center and 15 months after the village approved a contract with Williams Architects of Carol Stream.

Funding was to come from revenue from new housing starts, based on a minimum of 200 housing permits issued each fiscal year. Each permit has brings in about $2,500.

But there were only 149 housing permits issued in the last fiscal year. As of Oct. 31, only 35 permits had been issued for the current fiscal year, which ends April 30.

The plans submitted by Williams Architects called for a two-story, 62,000-square-foot facility that would include a garage for patrol cars and a gun range. Another option was for a 50,000-square-feet building without the garage and gun range.

The facility was to be built on land the village owns at the northwest corner of Municipal Drive and Route 30. The parcel is diagonal to the current village hall at 10 Municipal Drive, which also houses the police station.

Without a new center in sight, the staff will discuss other options to curb the crowded conditions, Village Administrator Brent Eichelberger said.

"Leasing office space may be the best option, or we could bring in trailers," Eichelberger said.

The village, which had 9,025 residents in 2006, is still growing, albeit more slowly than projected. That translates to an increased demand for village services, which affects Sugar Grove's small staff.

Ten staff members work at the village hall. An additional five building department employees work at Hartland Business Park where the village's public works department is located. There are 15 public works employees.

"While the growth of the village has slowed, we are still growing," Eichelberger said. "We currently have about 3,200 households in the village. If we issue 75 permits in a year, that's still about 2 percent growth."