Background

In September 2015 the Village Board accepted a feasibility study prepared by consultants.  The feasibility Study evaluated the existing building deficiencies and developed a “best fit” Police Station option on the existing municipal campus.    In February 2016, the Village Board retained the services of Legat Architects, McClaren, Wilson & Lawrie, Inc. and other consultants as part of their team to prepare construction drawings for the new Police Station.  In May 2016, the Village Board retained the services of Riley Construction to be the Construction Manager. The Village Police Station Committee has met bi-weekly and more frequently, as necessary to partner in the design and development of the site and floor plans, as well as exterior elevations for the new Police Station. 

This is being placed on the Village Board agenda as an early review status report prior to commencing the Plan Commission and Design Commission review process.

Schematic Design

The consultants retained by the Village are complete with the schematic design phase.  Legat Architects and McClaren, Wilson & Lawrie are embarking upon the design development and construction document phase for this project.  The following are some of the key components of the schematic design plans for the proposed new Police Station:

• The approved programmed area remains at 70,500 square feet per the feasibility study, plus the Police garage. 

• The motorcycle storage and bicycle storage areas previously proposed at the rear of the new building have been eliminated and these operations will be managed off site at the Police Annex. 

• The current site plan maintains close to approximately 430 parking spaces on the Municipal Campus compared to 441 spaces currently.  The desired range pursuant to the feasibility study ranges from 410 to 430 parking spaces.

• In order to accommodate the Police Station building, modifications are necessary to the main driveway between the Police Station and the Village Hall.  These include the following:

• A two lane cross section is proposed with one ingress and egress lane versus a three lane cross section.  The existing loading zone by Village Hall remains.
•  The driveway into the municipal garage has been straightened.
•  Existing driveway conflicts once customers enter the garage have been eliminated.  This cleans up traffic flow and access into the Municipal parking garage. 

• A clearly delineated pedestrian access from the public parking in the garage, to the police station front door is being developed.  Currently customers going to the Police Station are forced to walk in the driveway at certain points due to lack of sufficient sidewalk width. 

• The existing garage stair tower at the southeast corner of the garage is creating numerous conflicts and continues to be studied.

• Preliminary massing studies continue.  The building remains a two-story structure with a basement.  Studies are ongoing relative to floor to ceiling heights in order to minimize costs, while still maintaining the appropriate heights of the spaces for the state of the art functioning Police Station.

• Proposed exterior elevation concepts have been developed. Preliminary façade concepts and studies have been developed; different architectural concepts have been discussed with the project team and Riley Construction to ensure an architecturally compatible construction in the most cost effective manner.

Design Development

This phase will commence shortly, however, design development and actual bid documents have been prepared in order to expedite early bidding of offsite components so that the Police Department can begin relocating some of their long term storage and other components from the Police Station as soon as possible. These early bid items include renovation of a portion of the fourth floor of the Village Hall and the Police Annex.

Temporary Police Station

Simultaneously with preparation of the above referenced plans and documents, potential locations for a temporary police Station have been evaluated.  18 different sites were identified as possible temporary Police Station locations.  A request for interest from property owners and real estate representatives was released and the list for available sites was further narrowed. Village Staff and representatives from Legat Architects and Riley Construction visited potential Police Station locations.  Efforts to identify an interim temporary facility will continue to narrow options until a site is selected.  The overriding goals for the Police Department temporary relocation have been identified as follows:

1. Keep the Police Department all together in one location.
2. Location must provide for and allow a fully functioning Police Department.
3. Maintain employee morale.
4. Explore the most cost effective solution.

Next Steps

It is anticipated that the Plan Commission and the Design Commission process will commence in December.  Construction drawings and bid documents will continue to be prepared leading towards relocation of the Police Department and construction in the summer of 2017.