Hanover Park to build police station
Hanover Park trustees scoffed earlier this year at a presentation proposing a new police station and village hall renovations to the tune of $27 million.
It took numerous meetings and revisions, but officials are now on board with plans to scrap the renovations and build a more modest 52,000-square-foot police station for $19 million. Plans to update an aging village hall have been put on hold indefinitely.
"We all want to drive Cadillacs, but that's not practical," Trustee Bill Cannon said. "The original excessive proposal was everybody's wish list and now it's been cut down to an efficient, responsible construction model to provide a police station our village so desperately needs."
A unanimous board recently approved steps toward a potential summer 2010 groundbreaking at 2015 W. Lake St, just east of the municipal complex. Specifically, they authorized the hiring of legal counsel to oversee the bond issue, contract negotiations with the architectural firm for final design of the facility, and a search to select a construction manager.
It's a welcome development for the Hanover Park Police Department, which has pushed for an expanded facility since 1998. Police Chief David Webb said that when the current police station was built, the department employed a total of 46 officers and civilian employees. Today, there are 102 officers and civilian employees.
"We are extremely cramped," Webb said. "We even had to convert a garage into an office for six people."
Village Manager Ron Moser, the former police chief, said preliminary numbers show minimal increases to property taxes. Should the village borrow $14 million, a property owner with a house worth $185,000 would annually pay $29 more in Cook County and $36 more in DuPage County.
Among the first steps is the demolition of the existing Mid-America buildings at the police station's future site after the tenants vacate in the spring. The village will also raze the existing salt storage facility and build a new one behind village hall. The police station annex at 2152 W. Lake St. will eventually be torn down.
Meanwhile, it will take at least five or six months from when architects begin work on the station's final design to the time construction can begin.
Cannon said that despite the negative financial climate, Hanover Park wasn't as dependent on sales tax revenue as its neighbors and therefore hasn't been as hard hit by the economy.
"We're in decent shape and can take advantage of the low cost of borrowing through bonds and contractors are desperate for work so we're able to get a bigger bang for the buck," Cannon said.