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Oak Park advances schematic design for municipal campus; board favors council‑chamber addition and authorizes JLK contract
Summary
Trustees directed staff to advance Option 2 (a council‑chamber addition) for Village Hall, approved schematic design work for the municipal campus (police facility at 11 Madison and Village Hall at 123 Madison), and authorized a $1.685 million professional services agreement with Johnson, Laskey & Kendrick (JLK) to proceed to schematic design while requesting further value engineering and cost detail.
After extended public comment and consultant presentations, the Oak Park Village Board voted to advance schematic design for a two‑site municipal campus and to authorize a professional services agreement with Johnson, Laskey & Kendrick (JLK) for schematic design work covering a new/renovated police facility at 11 Madison and Village Hall upgrades at 123 Madison.
Staff and consultants presented two Village Hall concepts: a "core addition" that keeps a council chamber within the existing footprint with structural modifications, and a "council chamber addition" (Option 2) that locates a new, publicly accessible council chamber in a dedicated addition with improved accessible entries and programmatic flexibility. Consultants also presented an updated police station concept for the 11 Madison site, including a parking garage sized to meet operational needs.
Trustees expressed concerns about total project estimates, contingencies, bond capacity and the need for phased or value‑engineered approaches. Cost estimates presented are order‑of‑magnitude and include escalation, contractor fees and contingencies; staff said schematic design will sharpen those numbers. Several trustees favored the council‑chamber addition (Option 2) as the board’s preferred concept because it better supports public access and future programming.
The board voted to finalize Option 2 as the preferred concept and directed staff to advance the preferred concept to schematic design. It then approved a professional services agreement with JLK not to exceed $1,685,000 to perform schematic design and asked staff to prepare necessary budget amendments. Trustees asked staff to provide more detailed line‑item estimates and to continue value engineering as design develops.
