South Barrington resumes village hall expansion

After an unexpected year of delays, South Barrington officials are hoping to get construction of a long-planned expansion of village hall started and finished in 2012.

Village Administrator Mark Masciola said the village board plans to send out requests for proposals in February or March so the building of the 11,000-square-foot addition can occur this construction season.

The project, estimated to cost between $2.5 million and $3 million, would bring the 28-year-old building at 30 S. Barrington Road to about 18,000 square feet.

Though officials hoped to be at this point a year ago, there were several nonfinancial reasons for delay, Masciola said.

The village spent more time exploring alternatives to the design, changed village engineers in the middle of the process, and had to seek permission from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District for some revisions to the site plan, he said.

The project can be built from current funds and won’t require more land or a tax-hike referendum, officials said.

The expansion won’t greatly affect the front, upper level of the two-story building except that the police department will move completely to the lower level, freeing up space for the village administration to entirely take over the upstairs.

The lower level addition will include a new meeting hall for the village board and its advisory committees, as well as more office space.

The currently cramped police department will take over the existing lower level space at village hall, converting it into a training room and temporary headquarters for emergency operations.

While the department’s prisoner holding room will be improved, the expansion does not envision a change to the current policy of moving prisoners to a different off-site facility for overnight incarceration.

During construction, the only way most members of the public would be affected is if they plan to attend the village’s evening meetings.

“We’d have to hold the village board meetings off-site” at a location yet to be determined, Masciola said. Village President Frank Munao last year was considering asking permission to use Willow Creek Community Church just up the road.