A 2.25-acre site at the southwest corner of Lee Street and Prospect Lane West is the leading contender for a new fire station despite residents’ concerns.
Des Plaines officials will consider other locations, but the city favors the south side site, officials said during a neighborhood meeting.
About 60 people attended, and most expressed opposition to building the station on the site, which is occupied by four single-family homes and Valiquet Saws, 1900 Lee St.
“I don’t know what to do,” said Leonard Loszewski, a 17-year resident of the area. His house is billed as a landscape buffer zone on the tentative fire station plan. “I can’t sell and I can’t move.”
Des Plaines could purchase properties, including Loszewski’s, if the design phase is approved by the City Council in two or three months, officials said.
“You say it’s not a done deal, but we feel it is a done deal,” said Roz Eckhardt, a block captain in the 2200 block of Pine Street, about four blocks from the proposed two-story station.
Eckhardt and other neighbors said there are other locations in the neighborhood more suitable for a fire station.
But Mayor Tony Arredia said, “No matter where in the city we could plan to put this, this meeting room would be filled, but with different people.”