Arlington Hts. gets look at police station study

The Arlington Heights village board on Tuesday will discuss the next steps in building a new police station, including picking an architectural concept of what the station may look like and how much it might cost.

FGN Architects will present the board with a final draft of the police department feasibility study it has been conducting for nearly a year.

The study is meant to verify results from an earlier study done in 2010 that found that the current police station is beyond its useful life. The station was built in 1978 and officials say it no longer meets the space needs of the department. It also has a leaking roof and is not handicap accessible.

The study, which also looked at the needs of modern policing, recommends a new 70,500-square-foot police station, built in the same location as the current one. It calls for it to be two stories with a basement, along with a 10,000-square-foot indoor garage for police vehicles.

The study suggests the police department use the fourth floor of village hall, the fire academy and the public works annex for further storage and training - allowing the footprint of the new police station to be smaller than it may have been otherwise.

On Tuesday, the board will discuss the final study and decide whether to move forward with a construction plan based on FGM's recommendations. The meeting starts at 8 p.m. in the third floor board room at Village Hall, 33 S. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights.

The full study results can be found online as part of Tuesdays agenda at http://www.vah.com/government/boardagendas_minutes_videos/