Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
Rolling Meadows could purchase property less than a mile from its existing fire station on Plum Grove Road for the second of two proposed fire stations.
The city plans to offer $800,000 for 42,246 square feet of land at 2320 and 2350 Hicks Road, just west of Route 53 and north of Kirchoff Road. On Tuesday, the city council voted 4-3 in a first reading vote to authorize the purchase. A final, second reading vote is scheduled for Oct. 24.
The land deal would be the second piece to the fire department’s controversial $9 million plan to relocate both city firehouses, aimed at improving response times and reducing fire risk throughout town.
Last month, the council voted 4-2 to buy land for $1.3 million at 3201 Algonquin Road on the south side of town. The 77,195-square-foot site is where a new station would be built to replace the aging downtown Station 15 at 3111 Meadow Drive. While Station 15 would move south, Station 16 at 2455 S. Plum Grove Road would move slightly east.
The plan has rankled residents and aldermen that would lose a fire station close to them.
As architectural drawings are still being completed, the earliest construction could begin to replace Station 15 is next spring, with completion 18 months later.
