Trustees get more details of township move

BY RUTH SOLOMON
STAFF WRITER - Deerfield Review

West Deerfield Township is closer to moving into bigger offices after informal village board approval last week to rezone property occupied by two homes owned by township assessor Steven Stanger at 601 and 607 Deerfield Road.

The village board will have its first official vote Tuesday on the rezoning from general residential to public lands. The plan commission unanimously voted to recommend the rezoning Dec. 11.

The township plans to purchase the two Deerfield Road properties from Stanger for $620,000, and sell its own share of its existing building on Waukegan Road to the village for $960,000, said Township Supervisor Julie Morrison.

The township board has also not yet set a price tag on how much it plans to spend on erecting its new building, Morrison said.

The township is also working on a cross easement agreement with Northern Realty, which owns Deerfield Centre just to the west. The agreement would provide the township with an easement through Deerfield Centre property, while seven Deerfield Centre parking spaces would be on township property. The discussions hope to head off any argument over parking such as led to a lawsuit between the township and the Deerfield Public Library over shared parking spaces there.

"We want a permanent easement recorded so we will know about it from now until the end of time," Morrison said.

No closing date is set, Morrison said, with it contingent on easements and the rezoning. Still, the township hopes construction can begin this spring, with a build time of six to eight months.

Plans call for a two-story building, 35 feet tall and 4,268 square feet in size, not including the basement. The parking lot would have 22 spaces and be used by seven full-time employees, two part-time employees, and patrons of the township offices.

In creating the township lot, the adjacent Deerfield Centre lot along Rosemary Terrace would be redone, adding two more spaces for them, Morrison said.

The building would be made of red blend face brick, to match the surrounding residential area, with a light gray stone base and a pitched roof. The two homes, which Stanger and his late father lived in, and two garages would be torn down, but an elm tree in the back would be saved.

The plan commission recommended parking lot lights be timed to go out when the building is not in use, with an exception for security lights. An air conditioner condenser would be moved from the east side to the south side of the building.

The first floor would hold the offices of the township supervisor and township assessor. The second floor would have a meeting room for Township and two smaller meeting rooms. The basement would hold the food pantry. An elevator would connect the floors, making it accessible to those with disabilities, a major priority of the township.

The township would have four times the size it has now. The new building would also effectively double the size the township food pantry, from 1,000 square feet to 2,100 square feet, Morrison said.

On the second floor, the township is exploring renting some space to the Deerfield Bannockburn Riverwoods Chamber of Commerce. Another possibility would be for the Union Drainage District to rent spaces. But the second floor space would not be large enough to share with School District 109, whose administration building is just to the east, Morrison said. District 109 needed a room that could hold up to 100 teachers, she said

Township building hours are from 8:30 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. When not used for township business, the parking lot would be available for the general public, Morrison said.

Meanwhile, the village is planning to decide within a year what to do with the portion of the township building it purchases, said Village Manager Bob Franz. The community development department is located on the side of the building facing Waukegan Road, just north of Village Hall.

Plans for an expanded municipal campus are under consideration by the plan commission.

A recent report on the downtown tax increment financing district showed $1 million earmarked in fiscal year 2004/2005 and another $1 million earmarked the following year for "municipal complex." In the projected budget, that $2 million for the municipal complex is not tied to any particular plan, Franz said.

The last improvement to Village Hall property was the remodeling of the adjacent police station. The new elevator and tower will permit adding on a second floor to the building, Franz said.

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