Des Plaines eyeing grant for fire station

Des Plaines city officials are hoping for a $2.1 million slice of a $210 million federal grant to help pay for new fire department facilities.

Officials said Thursday they are on track toward meeting a July 10 deadline to apply for the Assistance to Firefighter Grant administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

If approved, the money would be used toward the roughly $6 million construction cost of a fourth fire station planned for a city-owned 2-acre site off Central Avenue. The project has been on hold for several years due to lack of funding.

The city council's public safety committee Thursday night reviewed the latest cost estimates and plans for

building a fourth fire station and replacing existing Fire Station 2 to improve service in the north end of town, as well as building a new police facility.

Committee members agreed all three projects are necessary, but how they would be funded remains to be seen.

"This committee needs to push forward, get aggressive in moving ahead with a new police facility," 6th Ward Alderman Mark Walsten said.

The city would have to incur between $42 million and $50 million in debt to complete all three projects that have been talked about for years but were derailed due to the economy.

Funding for the two new fire stations -- estimated to cost roughly $12 million -- and for the roughly $38 million cost to purchase the land and build a new police facility would likely come at least partly from property tax increases, though other funding sources are being explored.

The updated plans for the three projects will be reviewed by the entire city council at a future board meeting once the public safety committee comes up with a recommendation on how to move forward.

The city already owns both sites where the two fire stations are planned -- Lee Street and Prospect Avenue and Central Avenue. A site for the new police station has not yet been selected.

"We've identified four potential sites within the downtown, including the current city block where the police station and city hall reside," City Manager Jason Bajor said.

That downtown block at Miner and Lee streets also includes the former Masonic Temple and The Choo Choo Restaurant, and a building at 1440 Miner St. next to city hall housing storefronts and apartments.

Those properties are part of the downtown Tax Increment Financing District No. 1, which the city created in 1986 to spur redevelopment. That special taxing district expires in 10 years so the time to move is now, officials said.

"We need to reach a resolution as to what is ultimately the best site," Bajor said. "Once we identify a site, we recommend to the council, if you are going to build this in downtown, we would recommend initiating it this year or the next."

Officials said they could use special taxing district revenues to pay for the construction of the new police facility and debt service on the bonds.

However, critics question using TIF funds on a project that won't generate economic activity in downtown.

"I hope that the city officials consider the potential impact of gutting the downtown TIF," said Brian Wolf, a member of Revitalize Des Plaines, formerly the Des Plaines Theater Preservation Society. "A police station project would be the opposite of what TIF money is intended for; this money should go toward rehabilitating our historic downtown."