$40 Million Arlington Heights Police Station: Will it Happen?

The new, $40 million Arlington Heights police station is part of a five-year (2014-2018) capital improvement plan unanimously approved by the village board in October. 

Mayor Arlene Mulder said the board recognizes the police department’s needs and developed a timeline to deliver a new, state-of-the-art facility. 

“Our police station is really insufficient for the way police departments operate today.” Mulder said the existing 38,000-square-foot building is deteriorating, outdated and outgrown. 

“In the last three years we’ve spent a significant amount of money trying to redo windows and address air quality issues,” Mulder said, “It’s just time for a new facility.”

Built in 1978, Mulder said it would cost the village roughly $9 million dollars in maintenance just to keep the building operating between 2014 and 2017.

“There’s no question that it needs to be done,” Mulder said, “We’ve just had it on hold because of the economy.” A topic of discussion for years, Mulder said the village put the plans on the backburner because the board did not want to increase property taxes.

Instead of spending about $9 million to maintain the building at 200 E. Sigwalt Street for three years, the village plans to set that money aside to build a new facility.

According to Mulder, the project will not raise the tax levy because old bonds are set to expire in 2017, that's about a year after construction on the new facility is slated to begin. So the village will replace the old debt with new debt to fund the new facility.

While Mulder supports the $40 million dollar project, the decision will ultimately be left to the next mayor and village board.

Thomas Hayes

“Everyone who has been through it understand it needs to be replaced,” said .

If elected mayor, Hayes said he would continue to support the plans for the new Arlington Heights police station. “Unfortunately it won’t be cheap,” Hayes said, “But it needs to be done, it’s not a luxury item.” With old bonds retiring and low interest rates, Hayes said fiscally, the plans and the current timeline make sense. 

Mark Hellner

Mayoral candidate Mark Hellner said he supports the police department but he's not fully behind the $40 million plan. “It is clear that our police station suffers from major deficiencies,” Hellner said, “No one is denying that.” The police department requires appropriate facilities and resources to properly perform its essential role, Hellner said. 

But Hellner added, the village needs to identify all reasonable and economically efficient alternatives to address the problem. Hellner said, "Demolition of the current structure and construction of a new one at the cost of $40 million surely isn’t the only approach we should consider." If elected, Hellner said he'd look into the possibility and price of adding a second police station in Arlington Heights. 

“Given the fact that we only have one police station in a town that has a good size foot print, especially north to south,” Hellner said, “It seems like common sense would guide us to consider an additional location just as with our fire stations,” which he said could help to serve the entire village.

Ron Drake

With plans to tour the police department this month, mayoral candidate Ron Drake said he wants to go through the facility and talk with police before he speaks in detail about his views on the project. Drake said, "I want to get a better understanding of what it is that makes this recent decision by the board the only direction they could take." Looking for alternatives, Drake said, "I'm not convinced this is the only solution."

Under the current timelines of the proposed project, it could be solidified in 2014, and construction could start by 2017 and completed in two years. But all of that could change based on who is elected next village prsident, which could change not only the timelines but the overall plan.