Wilmette, News

Four concepts show how a new Wilmette Police Station would impact Howard Park

The recent release of several potential site plans for the Village of Wilmette’s new police station has sparked the next phase of public discussion for the monumental local project.

Village officials last week released four site plan concepts developed for the multi-million-dollar project that’s been a focal point of more than a dozen public meetings over the last 18 months.

The Village subsequently hosted a community open house on Thursday, Jan. 30, to showcase the concepts, which for the first time include details on potential size, layout, parking, cost and impact on the adjacent Howard Park.

The most recent building size and cost recommendations shared with the public call for a $47.8 million facility at just under 50,000 square feet, as reported by The Record.

All of the potential site plan concepts start with a 49,838 square-foot facility. Where the concepts differ is in their potential encroachment into Howard Park, an element of the new station that several residents have shared as their main concern.

From A to C

The four site concepts for the proposed new police station in Wilmette.

Concept A, the first site plan included in an online document shared on the village’s website, would have the smallest impact on Howard Park as officials say it would take 5,588 square feet away from the park.

The total equals about 1.5% of the total space of the park and about 8% of the field area of the southwest portion of the park, which is likely to be the area most impacted by a new building.

Howard Park, which is owned by the Village of Wilmette, is approximately 11 acres, according to village records.

Officials have described Concept A as the “least impactful to playing fields” and an option that “restores the majority of park space.”

This option would, however, cost approximately $6.7 million more than estimates because of the addition of an underground parking garage.

Concept B-1 would have an almost 19,000 square-foot impact on Howard Park, resulting in a loss of about 5% of the park’s total space and nearly 30% of the playing fields in the southwest portion of the park.

This plan would displace the existing soccer field, shift the location of the football field, displace the softball field and cause for the relocation of the southwest field lights.

Cost projects for this concept would align with the $47.8 projected figure and would feature a basement-level garage that would include 20 parking spaces. Forty at-grade/outdoor spots are also included in this site plan.

Concept B-2 would have less of an overall impact on Howard Park, particularly the playing fields space. This design calls for an impact of just under 10,000 square feet (2.5% of the park; 14% of the SW field).

It would also shift the soccer and football fields, displace the southwest softball field and cause relocation of the southwest field lights. Plan B-2 would have fewer visitor parking spaces and the same allocation of basement and at-grade-outdoor spaces as B-1.

Cost projections for this option also align with the project estimates.

Village officials say concept plan C would be the least expensive option but would have the greatest impact on Howard Park. This option would take nearly 31,000 square feet, or about 8%, from the park and about 45% of the existing southwest fields.

Wilmette’s Village Board is expected to review the four preliminary site plans on Tuesday, Feb. 11, to offer its feedback on the options.

Appearance Review feedback

Per the request of village officials, Wilmette’s Appearance Review Commission during its Monday, Feb. 3 meeting offered its early feedback on building design and materials for the proposed new police station.

Mike Elliott, a representative of FGM Architects, the project’s architectural firm, reiterated during a brief presentation that project planners’ top priority is to limit the encroachment on Howard Park as much as possible.

Commissioners offered Elliott thoughts on what design elements and characteristics they believe should be prioritized.

“It’s an important building for our community,” Commissioner Jonathan Zee said. “There’s not a lot of community buildings that we can represent our community with, so I think it’s an important opportunity to really think carefully about what this building ought to be for … in both the civic way and in the urban context way and in the social way. So I think this is a really important project.”

Zee later added that he believes it’s important for the new building to reference the patterns of Wilmette’s history and its context, but that it also should be something that is of the present and the future.

“I think it’s important for it to be something that represents where our community is going and without disregarding the past,” Zee said.

Commissioner Richard DeLeo said that he believes the building needs to be complementary and interactive with the neighborhood — but distinctive as well.

Board Chair Devan Castellano advised project designers to take advantage of the “great opportunity to have this building really shine from the back facade,” noting the significant number of residents who frequently utilize Howard Park.

“It’s a delicate balance of looking at the context,” Castellano later added. “You want to be responsive but I don’t think we want to say it needs to be this particular style. That’s for you to start investigating and look at what is going to be appropriate for this site.”

Wilmette’s existing police station, located at 710 Ridge Road, was built in 1968. The building, which now measures 21,000 square feet, received an addition in 1986 and is a single-story structure with a full basement.

Project planners have on multiple occasions stated the new facility will be a two-story building with a basement.


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martin carlino
Martin Carlino

Martin Carlino is a co-founder and the senior editor who assigns and edits The Record stories, while also bylining articles every week. Martin is an experienced and award-winning education reporter who was the editor of The Northbrook Tower.

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