Elburn residents decry lack of transparency about location of new police station

Elburn residents, most of them from the Blackberry Creek subdivision, came to the Elburn Village Board meeting Jan. 16 to voice their concerns about a lack of transparency regarding the village’s plans for a new police station located in their community.

Residents said they were taken by surprise by a Jan. 3 story in the Elburn Herald in which Village President Jeff Walter said groundbreaking for a new Elburn Police Department building located in the Blackberry Creek subdivision would happen this summer with a scheduled completion date in 2025.

Some residents, including Bruce Maxson, mentioned the communication about the new police station that took place before the April 2023 referendum failed. Maxson attended one of the public meetings about the plan, but said that after the referendum vote, communication from the village dwindled. He said he saw the money for the new building was withdrawn from the 2023-24 budget.

During the Village Board meeting April 17, 2023, when the final budget that did not include funding for the building was approved, Elburn Police Chief Nick Sikora said he “will be getting together with the project’s task force in the next month to begin exploring other options, including looking at other possible funding sources and evaluating ways to scale back the costs of the building.”

“We’re going back to the drawing board,” Sikora said.

Those comments were reported in an April 20, 2023, story in the Elburn Herald.

Maxson wanted to know if an impact analysis had been done by an objective third party to determine the impact a police station in that subdivision would have regarding traffic, noise, home values, insurance rates and the potential for lockdowns at the schools.

Andy Stopka, president of the subdivision’s home owners association, said he believes the police department needs a police station but wanted to know if the village thought it was appropriate for it to be located within 500 feet of a school.

Stopka suggested renovating the Elburn Village Hall/Police Department building to accommodate the police department and building a new Village Hall in Blackberry Creek.

Several others had safety concerns, including Sara Paddock, who wanted to know what the potential would be for sex offenders who come to the police station to register to have contact with Kaneland Blackberry Creek Elementary School students who could be in a nearby playground, as well as other Kaneland students who come to Blackberry Creek to play ball.

Chester Cybulski, who was on the committee that participated in the planning for the new building, said he thought the location was the best one for the building and commended the village for finding another source of funding for it.

The village determined it will be able to sell bonds to pay for the police station. The village was able to buy the six acres near the water tower by the Blackberry Creek subdivision for $25,000 at a tax sale.

Helen Peterson said she is concerned for the safety of “each and every” child in Elburn and wondered if village officials had discussed the location with Blackberry Creek’s principal or the school board. She also wanted to know how the zoning change took place that paved the way for the building to be allowed in that location. She said she didn’t think a governmental building belonged in a subdivision.

Forrest Wagner, who said he had a degree in urban planning, pointed out that “cities often ask for the Cadillac when a Chevy will do.”

“While it’s always nice to have the best and the biggest something, we need to separate wants from needs,” he said.

He also faulted the village on its relative lack of transparency. He said he doesn’t doubt that the village followed the law in what it was required to communicate, but there is a “difference between posting something in a newspaper and full transparency.”

Several residents asked if the village would hold another meeting in which people would be able to have their questions answered.

“You could have done a better job,” Paddock said. “Why was it being hidden?”