The Lockport Township Fire Protection District broke ground on its new public safety training facility in Crest Hill on Monday, but even as construction equipment began work on the site, one large component of the plan likely will not come to fruition.

The Lockport Township Fire Protection District board met Wednesday and discussed the police firing range that was planned for the site but had its funding eliminated just two weeks before the groundbreaking ceremony.

The Lockport Police Department, which is funded by the city of Lockport, originally planned to partner with the LTFPD and pay for the construction of a firing range on the property, which the fire protection district would own but the police department would manage.

This plan initially was met with pushback from nearby residents who were worried about noise that the range would generate in the neighborhood, which is already home to two gun ranges.

The center is being built on Division Street near Stateville Correctional Center and the Illinois State Police Troop 3 center.

In order to assuage concerns from residents and secure support from the city of Crest Hill, the plans were reworked to include more extensive noise mitigation efforts, including large berms and directing fire away from residential areas.

A lot of time, money and effort went into this, and it didn’t work out the way we thought it would.”

—  John Batusich, Lockport Township Fire Protection District board member

The plan received final approval from the Crest Hill City Council in April.

However, Lockport City Administrator Ben Benson told The Herald-News that the city did not receive the total cost estimate of the modified gun range plan until July 28, and that the cost was higher than expected at $1.5 million, causing the city to “push pause” on the project.

The fire protection district said it did not know the final estimated cost.

Although the removal of the firing range from the plan does not dramatically alter the project’s timetable or budget for the fire protection district, board members still expressed frustration with what they said was a last-minute change. The training center will cost the fire protection district about $16 million.

“I’m extremely disappointed that they backed out at the last minute,” LTFPD board member John Batusich said. “I want to thank everyone who was involved, who fought for this, and the city of Crest Hill’s City Council for supporting it. A lot of time, money and effort went into this, and it didn’t work out the way we thought it would.”

“Learning from this, we probably should have had an intergovernmental agreement in place,” LTFPD board member Paul Siegel. “We put the cart before the horse and took on responsibilities, delays and black eyes for this without an agreement to establish who is paying for what. I personally had no idea there was any question about their ability to fund this.”

Benson said that the city “had hopes for some state or federal grant assistance,” but that the funds did not become available, and more agency or government funding would be needed and is being pursued.

Batusich noted that in the board’s conversations with the Lockport Police Department, it was suggested that seized funds – a portion of assets seized by Lockport police during investigations that led to convictions – would be used to pay for the department’s share of the project.

However, using those funds for construction projects is prohibited by federal and state law.

“I don’t blame you for this, John,” Siegel said to fire Chief John O’Connor, who said he had not seen the sense in an agreement before construction was complete. “It’s not your responsibility to check if they have the money to do what they say they can do. This was on the city.”

Additional costs

Part of the frustration of the board members stemmed from the delays and extra costs that the project underwent in order to accommodate the police department.

Discussions about the gun range delayed the construction by a full year, and redrawing the plans cost an additional $60,000, which was split three ways between Lockport, the fire protection district and the architectural firm FGM.

“I would think the majority of that we shouldn’t pay,” Siegel said. “It’s not fair to our taxpayers.”

In addition to the extra redesign costs, Batusich noted that construction costs have gone up with inflation over the last year, and the overall cost of the project may have risen as a result, although the actual omission of the range should not greatly effect the final budget of the project.

O’Connor said that the range was always going to be a separate phase of the work paid for by the police department. The only change to the fire training facility construction is in land grading, as instead of using dirt dug out for the rescue training pond to build a sound-muffling berm, the dirt will instead be spread over the property.

“If there is any additional cost for this, it will be in grading and landscaping, but we don’t have those costs yet,” O’Connor said. “I don’t think it will be substantial, though, if there are any.”

The board instructed staff to determine how much extra cost was incurred by the district as a result of the extended timeline and discussions to explore the possibility of being compensated by the city.

“I think there is a reasonable argument to have them pick up costs you paid for the architects,” board attorney Karl Ottosen said, although he discouraged the idea of taking legal action to recoup the losses, something the board members would not completely rule out.

“I think it’s fair that they make us whole for this delay because it cost the district taxpayers money,” Siegel said. “It’s not fair to just let it go.”

Without the firing range, the current plan is to leave the land undeveloped as green space and explore options for future uses in the coming years.

“We don’t know what challenges we might have to train for in the future,” O’Connor said. “For now, I’m gonna look on the positive side. Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.”

Although construction is now fully underway on the project, Benson said the city still is exploring funding options for the project.

O’Connor said he “sees that situation as highly unlikely at this point.”