Village Approves Plans, But No Police Station Coming

Although the village board approved architectural plans, Mokena is not building a new police station, officials stressed Monday night.

During Monday's regular meeting, village staff presented architectural drawings of a new $9 million to $11 million police station to the board. The village hired architects to draw up the design for a new, larger station on 191st Street and 104th Avenue back in 2007, before the economy tanked.

Watch video of the village presentation

After the economic collapse, the village shelved the plans, only to give the official approval.

But, Mayor Joe Werner and Village Administrator John Downs stressed, the village isn't building the station. They're just approving the plans so future boards will have a starting point should they choose to build a station years or even decades down the road.

"This type of planning is done for other reasons than to start throwing bricks and mortar together and start spending money," Werner said.

Although the village isn't locked into building the station, they do own the land, a 3.5-acre parcel at 191st Street and 104th Avenue.

Police Chief Randy Rajewski said a spot on the commercial corridor would be a better fit for the station than the current Front Street site. Police stations, he said, are not always the best neighbor for areas with families.

"I think when you talk about our location, being that it's in a residential area, it's not ideal," he said.

The village bought the land for $1.1 million in 2008. It bought the land outright—no financing or other debt was accumulated. Downs said the land had been appraised at $2.4 million.

The plans that were approved were for a 32,000-square-foot station, housing both the police and Mokena Emergency Services and Disaster Agency. The current police station is 5,900 square feet. ESDA is in another small building, the old village hall from 1916.

Downs said any future board that might or might not build the new police station will likely shrink it, building a smaller station than the plans describe.

The station was designed when the village had 86 staffers. Since the economy collapsed, that's down to 76.

Downs said he believes the economic crisis will have another long-term effect that might keep the station small. Downs believes that, even after the economy recovers, most people will want to keep their government smaller than they did before.