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Gurnee board to vote on police substation renovation, fire station contract

The Gurnee village board Monday will consider moving forward on a pair of long-simmering projects: upgrading the police substation at Gurnee Mills and building a third fire station to cover the Route 120 and 21 corridors.

In April 2018, the board discussed relocating the police substation from the current 800-square-foot office near the mall's administrative offices to a more prominent location near Bed Bath & Beyond. Officials said the move would have given the department a bigger presence and allowed officers more opportunities to engage with the community.

However, those plans were scrapped in recent months when the vacant storefronts were rented by stores, said Jack Linehan, the assistant to the village administrator.

"The flip side is that the front-line retail is able to generate tax dollars and support the mall differently than we could have," Linehan said.

Now that the relocation plans are off, the village board will vote Monday on renovating the current location, which Linehan said has not been upgraded since the mall opened in 1991.

The renovations would cost about $165,500 and would include demolishing and redesigning part of the space as well as the installation of new flooring, furniture and appliances.

Linehan said the substation work could be finished by summer.

The board also will vote Monday on hiring a construction manager for the third fire station project, which has been discussed for years.

Linehan said the village is still acquiring land for the station. According to village documents, the current timeline has the new station being completed in the fall of 2021.

Fire officials have said a third station would improve response times when firefighters are dealing with multiple or back-to-back emergencies. The proposed new station could also serve as a safety net during large-scale flooding, when station one has to be evacuated, according to village documents.

Village staff members met with four companies vying to be construction manager on the project and will recommend Zion-based Camosy Construction for the job. The company's fee would be set at 2.5% of the station's budget. The specific dollar amount would be updated throughout the process.

The village board will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at the village hall, 325 N. O'Plaine Road.

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