Orange Village unveils designs for new fire station and police/city-hall renovation; bond expected in November

Mayor Judd Klein opened a packed community meeting by calling the project the village's biggest in 35 years and said officials intend to ask voters to approve public financing for a new fire station and a renovation of the existing police/city-hall building that would free space for a larger community center.

"This is the biggest project that we have taken on in 35 years as a community," Mayor Judd Klein said, framing the effort as both a public-safety and community-investment priority. He told residents the design team will complete schematic work soon and that the village will return with a cost estimate to set millage for a bond likely to appear on the November ballot.

Eric Prose, a project architect with DS Architecture, led the schematic presentation and said the proposed fire station site at the southwest corner of Harvard and Brainerd places public access on the north side while reserving the south side of the lot for rapid apparatus egress. "We're looking to landscape the site, make sure it fits into the context," Prose said,…