Gurnee board approves plan for third fire station
The Gurnee village board approved a project to build a new fire station on the south side of the village that officials say will improve service and save lives.
To pay for the station, the village will borrow $7.1 million and the Warren-Waukegan Fire Protection District will pay $2 million of the loan.
The new station will be built on village land near the intersection of Route 21 and Manchester Road. It will be adjacent to and share a parking lot with a building occupied by several medical offices. Construction is expected to start in the spring.
After the board voted unanimously in favor of the project, Mayor Kristina Kovarik joked that they should pop some champagne.
"It's a shame it's only been a 30-minute meeting because it's been five years of work and hundreds of hours of discussions and meetings and a lot of angst as to whether this is the right thing or not," Kovarik said at the socially distanced board meeting Monday night. "I know it's scary right now in the environment that we're in, but this is a wise investment for the future of the village."
Trustee Thomas Hood agreed and spoke of the savings to the village in human terms. He said he believes it is worth spending the money given that the faster response times will save lives.
Gurnee Fire Chief John Kavanagh said the decision to build another station on the south side of the village came after analyzing 10 years of 911 call data and looking where the longer response times were. What officials found was that response times to the southern parts of town lagged, especially when there was a crew out on a different call.
"We needed some sort of station in the southern area that could not only handle first calls in that area but cover the other two (fire stations)," Kavanagh said.
Kavanagh said thanks to a recent grant the department already has enough firefighters and equipment needed to run three stations. They are currently housed in two stations.
Village finance director Brian Gosnell said the village's plan to pay for the station has changed because of the pandemic. Previously officials looked to use money from the general fund to pay a portion of the costs up front and then issue bonds for the rest.
Under the village's service partnership with the Warren-Waukegan Fire Protection District, the district will pay $2 million in payments made from 2021 to 2026. Then the village will pay $5.1 million in payments from 2026 to 2031.
Kavanagh said the district is a great partner that has been involved throughout the process.
As a village that does not levy a property tax, Gurnee is more vulnerable to the ups and downs of the local economy than the average suburb. Just under half the village's general fund revenue comes from sales taxes, which have taken a hit during the pandemic.