New Police, Fire Stations In Elmhurst?

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst is considering replacing the police station and the northside fire station.

At Monday's City Council meeting, City Manager Jim Grabowski said discussions about the projects would happen again. He briefly mentioned the topic as part of a longer presentation on capital spending.

He said the city has talked about replacing the police station at 125 E. First St. for a number of years.

"Of course, when the pandemic hit, we pulled that back," Grabowski said. "We'd like to start that conversation again with the Public Affairs and Safety Committee about location, scope of work, those types of things, so we can talk more about space needs for the police department."

He also said the city has talked for a while about replacing Fire Station 1 at 209 N. York St. Fire Station 2 is at 605 S. York St.

Grabowski said Station 1 functions fine, but the city needs to improve the building at some point.

"We thought we had an opportunity to relocate Station 1 that didn't pan out with some state property, but it's something that in the future that we should think about," he said.

City documents indicate that officials need to determine sites for the police and fire stations and find sources of money to repay debt for the projects.

The police and fire station projects are estimated to cost $23.1 million and $18 million, respectively.

It is unclear when the council's public safety committee plans to take up the topic of the police and fire stations.

Unlike council meetings, the city doesn't take video of committee sessions. All four council committees are held at the same time twice a month.