New police station, businesses touted in Lake in the Hills and Algonquin

New businesses, a new police station and park renovations are just some of things residents in Algonquin and Lake in the Hills can anticipate.

Lake in the Hills Village President Raymond Bogdanowski, Algonquin Village President Debby Sosine and state Rep. Suzanne Ness spoke on accomplishments and goals in the villages at the annual Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Chamber of Commerce membership breakfast last Thursday.

Bogdanowski kicked off the event with news that the Lake in the Hills Police Department will be breaking ground on a new police station in the spring. The new station will be located next to village hall at 600 Harvest Gate.

The 40,000-square-foot facility will have a multipurpose training room, offices, garage and indoor storage. Officials said the new building, which is expected to cost $22 million, will not increase residents' taxes.

A new and larger building is needed because the department has outgrown its existing building that is dealing with "much needed repair," Bogdanowski said.

"It's sort of embarrassing to say that, up until a year or so ago, we didn't even have separate locker rooms for the men and women police officers," he said. "Those are the types of things we are trying to improve with the new facility."

Construction is expected to be completed as early as spring 2025, Bogdanowski said. The Veterans Memorial also will be relocated to the new police station grounds.

"We are very excited about this," he said.

Sosine touted the success of new businesses coming to Algonquin including Belle Tire, Dave's Hot Chicken, Pickle Haus, CarMax and Rosen Hyundai. Construction on Portillo's and Cooper's Hawk is close to complete, and both businesses expect to open this month, Sosine said.

"We have almost 100 football fields of ongoing daily commercial activity," Sosine said. "And we're doing much better than the Chicago Bears."

About 600 homes and 100,000 square feet of new retail were added to the village last year, she said.

Dozens of new businesses are coming to Algonquin Commons, which expects to have a 92% occupancy by year end, Sosine said.

Fun City Adventure Park also is coming to the village. It will be an indoor entertainment complex offering trampolines, laser tag, bumper cars, and arcade games.

Sosine gave updates on reconstruction projects for Towne Park and Presidential Park. Presidential Park will be getting a new playground and three baseball fields. The village received a $400,000 grant to help fund the project last year.

Towne Park will be getting a permanent band shell to host the popular summer concerts. Since it will be under construction this coming summer, the concert series location is yet to be determined, Sosine said.

The Dixie Creek restoration project is nearly complete. Most recently, crews installed trees and prairie plants have started to grow along the creek. The village also will be cleaning up the area where the creek meets the Fox River to avoid muck buildup.

"What most people don't understand is this goes all the way down to the river and where it hits the river there is a big sludge area from all the water waste that goes down there," she said.

Ness gave updates on goals she has for the district including increasing day care options and improving the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

Daycare needs are increasing and availability is decreasing since 2019, while staffing also is diminishing, which Ness called the "perfect storm."

Ness hopes to see a program that can offer free associate degrees for early childhood education at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake.

"So, that area of study is a way to create a pipeline of people going into the profession, but also as a way to incentivize more people to look at it as a viable option," she said.

Ness, a Democrat whose district office is in Carpentersville, also is working on increasing accountability in DCFS, after recent headlines of the director resigning and a DCFS worker who was found guilty of child endangerment in the AJ Freund case.

"I suspect that we are going to see more changes and more opportunities for change," she said.