Politics & Government

Mokena Looks at Police Station That Might Never Be

The village board looked at the plans for the $9 million to $11 million police station that was derailed by the economic collapse.

When Mokena first looked at a new police station in 2007, they were looking at the needs of a community with ample available funds, a 10-year track record of growth and plans to expand the police department through 2040.

The village bought a plot of land on the northeast corner of 104th Avenue and 191st Street. In 2008, they commissioned Chicago-based architectural firm Gilfillan Callahan Nelson Architects, now Studio GC, to come up with preliminary designs that would hopefully soon become a new station.

"The inertia was to see this through to construction," Village Manager John Downs said of the old plans on Monday night.

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Then came 2009 and the economy tanked. The plans were shelved for two years. When the board looked at the plans in a work session Monday, the discussion was much different.

"It would be amazing to have this done within our lifetime," Village Clerk Patricia Patt said.

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A Smaller Larger Station

Make no mistake: The village wants to build this new police station to replace . That's why they reviewed the plans Monday and plan to take an official action on them after the new year.

The plans, in their current form, call for a 30,000-square-foot station as compared to the current 11,000-square-foot station. It would cost somewhere in the $10 million to $11 million range, but could go as low as $9 million, depending on prices when construction starts.

It would have amenities Mokena police currently go without, like an indoor shooting range in the planned basement. Currently, the department uses either the county or Illinois State Police facilities, both outdoor ranges.

"With the development encroaching on these, there's no way these agencies can keep these facilities," Chief Randy Rajewski said.

The board's planned official action, whatever form it takes, would make these plans the official strategy for a new police station. But the start date on the station is no more specific than "someday."

"When the economy improves and the opportunity presents itself, we can move forward effectively and efficiently," Mayor Joe Werner said. "And hopefully sooner rather than later."

Smaller Department

The architects' plans are based on a 2007 study a separate firm conducted of the police department's needs, architect Patrick Callahan said.

At the time of that study, the village had 86 full-time employees, Downs said. Now there are 76. Seven part-time employees went down to two.

Although he praised the design, Trustee George Matanias was one of the board members concerned that the plans were now too big for the scaled-down department.

"I don't know if we need anything quite this big or when we'll be able to do that," Matanias said.

Although the initial plans projected a department of 118 full-time employees by the year 2040, Downs said the village must adjust for a new reality. Once the economy recovers, people will want their local government smaller and more efficient.

"What we may have thought the needs may have been... I think that's going to shrink over time," Downs said.

Plans Change With Click of a Button

The board got a rare opportunity Monday, a look inside a building not yet built.

With the architectural firm's 3D modeling software, the board could see details inside the planned structure down to the locations of chairs and the drawers of evidence cabinets.

Beyond the novelty of being able to "see" each room from different angles, the software has helped Rajewski and other officers plan the building. For example, using the software, the officers have drilled down on important details like lines of sight that could put people in the cells dangerously out of an officer's view.

"We want to be sure that we're testing the information as we're moving," said architect Craig Meadows.

With the click of a button, Meadows and Callahan shrunk one of the new station's rooms and expanded the others around it. In the past, this might have involved tossing out whole schematics and starting anew.

Now a click of a mouse can shrink a building planned before the economic crisis down to whatever the world after the crisis demands.

Corrections: The article originally did not have the current name of the architectural firm. The number of village employees was incorrectly identified as the number of police department employees.


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