Riverside is set to pose a referendum question to its residents in April 2027 on the issue of funding a new public safety facility that could cost just under $30 million.
Village trustees heard an update on Thursday, March 19, from Williams Architects about the proposed facility and, after viewing renderings of four potential exterior designs, narrowed the field down to two.
At the meeting, Village Manager Jessica Frances also walked trustees through the process to ask residents to approve issuing bonds to pay for the new facility, which will include a public education campaign this year before paperwork is filed toward the end of the year. Voters will be asked to say yay or nay during the election on April 6, 2027.
Representatives from Williams are set to appear at the village’s April 9 meeting of its preservation commission to get commissioners’ thoughts on the designs.
Andrew Dogan, a managing principal at Williams, described the set of designs as “four very distinct concepts.” Some feature full rows of vertical windows on the north side that would face Riverside Road while others incorporate more columns and horizontality, breaking the glass space up. One design featured sloping roofs that would harken to Riverside Township Hall.
Of the four designs, the village board widely preferred the first two, dubbed “Dynamic Response” and “Contextual Presence” by Williams. The first featured wide windows and a frieze above the firetruck bay for a sign designating the building as the Riverside Public Safety Center. The second features fewer windows, more columns and a flat roof.
Trustee Elizabeth Kos said she had an immediate reaction to the Dynamic Response design.
“Architecture is such a big deal in Riverside, and we have so many architectural styles incorporated. This, to me, is a visually interesting building that doesn’t try to blend in,” she said.
Trustee Jill Mateo named Contextual Presence as her favorite, saying she favored the vertical lines over the horizontal elements in other renderings.
To reduce costs, the village board agreed to eliminate a proposed western driveway that would have looped around Township Hall as a secondary exit for vehicles from the underground parking area.
“We’re not at the stage where we can say what we’re doing to make this an environmentally friendly building, but it will be an environmentally friendly building, to the extent possible,” Village President Doug Pollock said. “That will be a priority.”
Going to bond
When it comes to prices, both designs would cost upwards of $29 million, Dogan and other representatives said, necessitating the village to ask residents to approve issuing a corresponding amount of bonds.
The bonds would come in just under Riverside’s remaining debt margin of about $33 million, Frances said, and be paid off over 20 years. Residents will shoulder much of the debt burden, with the village recouping costs to pay back the debt through property taxes.
Riverside’s financial advisor, Speer Financial, provided a breakdown of the cost impact on households in town based on their market values and the amount of bonds taken out.
For bonds worth $28 million — the highest amount Speer modeled, although the bonds will likely come out higher — the average house worth $500,000 will pay $720 each year, or about $60 each month, Frances said.
While village staff are disallowed by law to advocate for the passage of the referendum, Frances said they will prepare an education campaign, so residents understand the extent to which the new facilities are necessary for Riverside’s fire and police departments.
The campaign will likely include open houses to source resident feedback on the proposed designs, the creation of video materials detailing existing issues and tours of the existing facilities.
Addressing the village board, Pollock called opining on the renovations and encouraging the passage of bonds to fund those renovations, “the most important thing any of us will do as an elected official” in Riverside.
“Our number one obligation is public safety. To maintain the great level of public safety this village has always had, our first responders need facilities that are appropriate and support a top-notch police and fire public safety department,” he said. “It is incumbent upon all of us to do everything we can to educate the public about this.”