A planned Advanced Medical Transport [AMT] ambulance station on Peoria’s north side is expected to double as the site of a new Peoria Police Department substation.
Police Chief Brad Dixon said the department is in need of a better location for its only current substation, an outdated and undersized former fire station on Altorfer Drive in the Pioneer Industrial Park.
“Just in the interest of customer service, we can’t do anything out north at all; zero. We have zero capability,” said Dixon, adding the current substation was built in 1967 and later retrofitted for police department use. “There’s one office out there, but it’s not functional for what we need.
“It’s a barrier for a lot of people to have to come all the way down to the police department [headquarters] to file paperwork or pay a fine or whatever the case may be.”
The Peoria City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously in approving a letter of intent for construction and co-location of the facility on the southeast corner of North Allen Road and Van Winkle Way, next to an existing Carle Health facility.
It’s approximately two miles from the current substation, just north of the Allen Road interchange with Illinois Route 6.
“We talked about a public-private partnership whereby AMT would build out the substation, the physical substation along with their facility, and then subdivide into three parcels,” said City Manager Patrick Urich, noting the city has $3.5 million set aside in the budget for the project.
The letter of intent expresses a commitment to move forward with the development. It covers design, permitting and construction of the police substation, which will be transferred to the city once it's completed.
“What a win-win opportunity, I think so, for our police department, for AMT and really for our residents and our community as a whole,” said Mayor Rita Ali. “I wholeheartedly support this; I think it’s smart. I think it makes for a lot of improved efficiencies for everyone.”
The city and AMT will share the costs of the construction and maintenance of a common parking facility. The existing police substation will be converted to an equipment storage facility.
Urich said the city originally had budgeted about $1 million to upgrade the current substation and was anticipating additional grant funding for a separate police building that has since fallen through. The combined funds will cover the cost of the new project.
“The next steps when we come back, we’ll have a more formalized construction contract with AMT that’ll be more formalized, as well as an understanding of what our costs are going to be,” he said.
Urich said the new police substation will offer a better environment for officers working on the north side, with both male and female bathrooms.
Dixon added the facility will also offer better parking, and include a community meeting space. He said it will eliminate the necessity for officers to travel all the way to the Downtown headquarters for processing evidence.
“As somebody who works Downtown, I hear from clients even how cumbersome some people feel that is to come downtown,” said council member Tim Riggenbach. “So offering an alternative, I think, will be a great thing.”
