Arlington Hts. told police station too small

The Arlington Heights police station should be about twice its current size, trustees were told at a committee meeting Monday night.

After a tour, a public facility consultant and representatives from an architectural firm listed problems with the current station, located next to the new village hall at Arlington Heights and Sigwalt roads.

Crowding topped the list along with a leaking roof and leaking overhead pipes. In addition, most of the building is not handicapped accessible, said MaryAnn O'Hara, vice president of FGM Architects, based in Oak Brook.

"The building suffers from a lack of upgrading when compared to other buildings on campus," O'Hara said.

Arlington Heights officials toured the police station's jail, records department, forensics room and firing range on Monday. Storage boxes lined some walls and fans cooled many overheated hallways.

No decision on the police station was made Monday. The final report on the station will be completed in a few weeks and a presentation to the board of trustees will follow.

The police station was built in 1978 and is almost 37,000 square feet. When it opened, the station had about 80 officers. Today, the police department consists of 150 people.

With the upgrades and expansion, the building should be between 70,000 and 76,000 square feet, said Jim Lewis McClaren, a principal with McClaren, Wilson and Lawrie, a public facility consultant based in Arizona.

Some of the options for the police station include building a new police station or adding a second story and basement to expand, McClaren said.

New buildings surround the police station. In 2006, firefighters moved into a new $4.2 million station. Village employees moved into the new, $30 million village hall last week.

The potential police station project couldn't be done in conjunction with the village hall project because it would have been impossible to displace all village hall employees and police department employees at the same time, said Village Manager Bill Dixon during the tour.

"There's a limit to what we can manage," he said.

Village President Arlene Mulder said it's important for communities to have upgraded police stations.

"One of the most important things to Americans is public safety," she said. "I don't think Arlington Heights residents think any differently."