Lake Forest officials have started exploring moving the city’s police headquarters into a new facility.
Mayor Stanford “Randy” Tack believes the existing public safety building at 255 W. Deerpath Road, which serves as the center of operations for both the city’s police and fire departments, is limited.
“As we look to the future, the current building is not adequate to meet the space needs of both departments,” Tack said at the March 4 City Council meeting.
The existing 34,000-square-foot building opened in 1969, according to Police Chief Karl Walldorf.
“Many of the critical building deficiencies have a direct correlation with the amount of space required for modern police operations,” he wrote in an e-mail.
Walldorf said the police department has 52 employees, along with 35 fire department employees. He noted at any time, there are between 12 and 35 employees at the building. Both departments combined have about 40 vehicles.
The police chief added the current building wasn’t designed for modern law enforcement practices, specifically as they relate to training, technology and equipment.
“Along with insufficient training space and evidence storage, the building’s inefficient floor plan makes transporting detainees difficult,” he said. “The Sally port — intended for processing detainees — only has room to process one person at a time, and isn’t tall enough to accommodate some squad vehicles.
“The social worker doesn’t have a private office to provide counseling services,” Walldorf said. “Detectives and patrol officers don’t have dedicated office spaces for private conversations with victims, witnesses and fellow officers.”
However, many questions would have to be answered about having the police in another building, starting with the cost of either constructing a new building or renovating an existing one.
“While it’s too early to have a cost estimate, the city has allocated $200,000 in the proposed fiscal year 2025 budget for a comprehensive space needs assessment and site analysis for a new police department facility,” Tack wrote in an e-mail sent through a city spokeswoman.
For comparison, Wilmette is also considering a finding new police facility. A recent report showed projected costs for a new facility in that community at between $53 million to $55 million, not including any land acquisition.
Another large, unspecified cost would be a renovation of the Deerpath Road building that would become the exclusive home of the fire department.
“To optimize the facility for the fire department’s operations, the department would absorb the vacated spaces, utilize the former police areas for training and expanded meeting rooms, and remodel spaces to fit current and future needs,” Tack wrote.
Tack did not specify where a new police station would go, but noted the city staff has started an evaluation of both public and private properties, in addition to the space assessment.
“The city is exploring opportunities that ensure our ability to meet resident expectations and police department needs, both today and into the future,” he wrote.
City Manager Jason Wicha added in an interview that city staffers have started the process of developing requests for proposals for the space assessment. He anticipates a contract being signed within two months for the assessment, which he estimated would completed within six months.
The current building is located essentially in the central part of Lake Forest, but Walldorf said it was possible to have the police station in any part of the city.
“Since patrol officers are actively deployed around town at all times, police operations don’t require a centrally located headquarters,” he said.
Within the past few years, communities including Woodridge, Glen Ellyn and Mt. Prospect, have opened new police stations. Besides Wilmette, Northbrook is another North Shore community examining whether to move police into a new building.
Wicha said additional discussions of the situation may occur at City Council open sessions later in the year.