Chicago Executive Airport project gets sprinkler exemption

Chicago Executive Airport will start construction this spring on six new hangars that could house a total of 48 single-engine airplanes, said Dennis Rouleau, the airport's manager.

"Even in this economy we're moving forward," he said about the hangars for recreational planes. "We need this to stay competitive in the area. Plane owners can use a lot of airports - in DuPage, Schaumburg, Kenosha and even Gary, Ind."

The hangars will go up at the northeast corner of the field where an old drive-in theater used to be. The entire project will cost $3 million, although the airport has saved up $450,000 in federal funds to help offset the cost, Rouleau said.

It will cost about $500 per month to rent a space in a new hangar.

So far there is a waiting list of 29 people who each put down $1,000 to reserve a spot. About half the waiting list consists of people who will lose their bay when another hangar on the south side of the airport is demolished, Rouleau said.

"It's coming down this July and right now 25 bays are occupied," he said.

Wheeling Fire Chief Keith MacIsaac wanted the airport to install fire sprinklers in the new hangars. But Rouleau appealed to the village board, saying the additional $70,000 price per building to add sprinklers was too expensive.

Trustees sided with Rouleau and this week MacIsaac wrote an amendment to the village code to exclude the hangar project from the village code.

"We're talking about all metal buildings that won't be heated," Rouleau said. "Basically, they are just big garages."

According to Wheeling's village code, sprinklers must be included in all new residential and commercial buildings.

"Obviously, as the fire chief, I'm always looking to improve fire safety and sprinklers would've done that," he said.

In a letter to trustees, MacIsaac said sprinklers are getting national attention.

"To reduce our current fire sprinkler requirements for a facility owned by the village, protected by the village's reduced fire department capabilities and contrary to what is both regionally and nationally occurring with these types of structures does not appear to be logical," MacIsaac wrote.

The airport is owned by both Wheeling and Prospect Heights. Since its joint purchase in the mid-1980s, fire codes for construction projects have been based on the more stringent code in either community regardless of the actual location of the project.

In this case, Wheeling has the stricter rule, and therefore got to make the decision about sprinklers.

The last time the airport build new hangars was in 2001.