Residents press village board over proposed police, fire and village-hall site in Hartbrook Park

Residents urged the Village of Hartland on July 14 to expand public outreach and reconsider placing a new police, fire and village-hall complex on part of Hartbrook Park, saying mailings and clearer notice were needed before the board advances the plan. Kelly Bridal, a Hartland resident, told the board, “We ask for transparency. We ask for engagement,” and said many neighbors learned of the proposal too late to comment. The board and city staff said the proposal has been under study for over a year and that design work is still at an early stage. Village staff said a needs analysis began about 14 months ago, and the police chief told the meeting the existing station’s offices are cramped and the building is aged. Village officials said open houses, tours and additional neighborhood communications are planned. Why this matters: The proposal would remove the park’s baseball diamond to make way for public safety and administrative facilities, a change residents said would reduce nearby green space and affect neighbors’ routine use of the park. Trustees and chiefs said a portion of the park — including the playground, courts and trails north of the parking lot — would remain, but residents contested whether the community has had adequate notice and input. Residents’ concerns and board response Multiple residents said they only learned about the plan from meeting minutes or by word of mouth and requested more proactive outreach — mailings, targeted notices, neighborhood signs and in-person listening sessions. “If that issue warranted a direct mailing, surely the potential loss of parkland deserved equal, if not greater, notification,” Bridal said, referring to recent mailed water-bill notices about sewer disposal. Several speakers emphasized the park’s neighborhood value. A longtime resident who said she lives within hearing distance reported music from the park could be heard miles away during the recent hometown celebration and used that as an example of the park’s heavy local use. Village officials described the process so far and the operational reasons for updating public-safety facilities. A village official explained the project began with a department needs analysis and grew to consider co-locating services to reduce costs: “It started with a needs analysis to see if we even needed it,” the official said, adding that renovating the existing police station would cost nearly half the price of building new but still leave the village in an old structure. Site and scope details discussed at the meeting Village staff and public-safety leaders said the proposed building footprint would be located on the park’s southern edge, where the baseball diamond sits, and would not occupy the park north of the lot. As the police chief described at the meeting, “It would basically be that baseball diamond right along Hartbrook Drive. Everything to the north of that parking lot would stay intact.” A trustee added that the baseball field would be replaced at another park as part of planning. Fire department leadership detailed operational constraints prompting the project. The fire chief said volunteer staffing and space limitations were a factor: “When I first started, there were 47 members. Right now I have 11 people that live in the village,” he said, describing bunk and apparatus capacity issues at the current station. Board actions and next steps There was no vote on siting or design on July 14. Trustees told attendees they will hold tours, open houses and “special listening sessions” and that staff will provide engineering and needs-study documents to the public. The village president said officials are considering an email list and targeted neighborhood notifications so residents can get updates, and invited neighbors to individual conversations with trustees. What remains unresolved Residents asked for immediate copies of the needs analysis and site studies; officials said meeting materials and the engineering reports are available as government documents but will also be distributed in upcoming outreach. The board did not set a timeline for formal design approval or any referendum. Officials emphasized the project is at an early design stage and that architectural drawings were not yet complete.