Wilmette Village Board maps out police station approval timeline

The Wilmette Village Board hopes to reach a consensus on concept designs and preliminary building programs for the new police station at the start of the fall to bring on architects to begin the preliminary design process.

The village’s Public Safety Committee has toured four Chicago-area  stations — Glen Ellyn, Woodridge, St. Charles and Bartlett — to get a feel for what a more modern police station looks like. The village’s current police station was built in 1968 with additions in 1986 and has long outlived its useful life, according to village officials.

The village hired FGM Architects to do a space needs study on the existing police station. The study found several deficiencies and suggested the net building space of the new facility, the usable space, should come in at about 45,400 square feet. Village staff recommended 41, 884 square feet of net building space.

There are still many unknowns regarding the project, including where the new station will be located. Without a site chosen, the board is unable to bring on an architect to design the building and provide a full picture that includes a footprint size.

“The final building size is not going to be what’s on this slide,” said Village Manager Michael Braiman at the June 25 Village Board meeting. “It’s going to change … it’s just a preliminary concept of what we believe we need for a public safety building.”

Trustee Steve Leonard, who also sits on the Public Safety Committee, told the board that the committee has strong preferences but still has more to learn.

“I’ve come to a place where I’m feeling very strongly about the facility, the project and the spaces,” he said. “But I think this needs to be a board decision that stands up in the face of robust discussion and public comment that I know much of which will be negative.”

Trustee and Public Safety Committee Chair Kate Gjaja said the committee is ready to begin diving into costs of the project and is “nowhere near” the end of the committee’s role in the process.

“We’re moving along and we’re starting to see how we can work through this information and work with our police department to understand the different choices and the tradeoffs,” she said.

Resident Dan Kaplan urged the board to renovate the existing station instead of undertaking a whole new construction project.

“For a project of this size, doesn’t the community deserve to know how renovations and additions to our station compares with a completely new police facility?” he asked.

Another resident, Jennifer Manning, acknowledged change does need to come to the police station but fears the scope of the project is beyond what is needed.

“I don’t see enough data to support so much of what is proposed,” Manning said. “It seems like a pie in the sky, this is what would be awesome to have, not what we need … I don’t think that any of us moved to Wilmette for the police station.”

Moving forward, the Public Safety Committee is expected to provide preliminary recommendations on the project scope at the July 18 committee meeting. The committee will likely present these recommendations along with cost estimates to the Village Board on July 23. August will see the Finance Committee look into the funding scenarios along with the project financial advising group PMA Financial Network.

Previous estimates for the project costs sat at $34 million .

A webpage on the village’s website has been dedicated to the project for residents to receive updates. Residents will get the opportunity to tour the existing police station in September.