HUNTLEY, IL – Sun City sends about 35% of the paramedic and fire calls made annually to the Huntley Fire Protection District.
About one year after Sun City opened in April, 1999, the fire district built what is now called station 3, located at Regency Parkway and Farm Hill Drive. This location is about one city block from Sun City’s eastern boundary and has been the primary source of fire-rescue service to Sun City.
The northwest corner of the Huntley Corporate Park, where the new firehouse will be located on a 2.25acre lot. (Photo by Tony Pratt/Sun Day)
More than a year ago, the district decided that station 3 was not enough. A second station to serve Sun City primarily was needed. A search for a property was launched. It came to a successful conclusion last month. Al Schlick, deputy chief of the district, told the Sun Day this past summer that the land search was narrowed down to acreage near James Dhamer Drive on the south side of Sun City.
On September 18, the fire district board approved purchase of a 2.25-acre site in the area known as the Huntley Corporate Park. The cost was more than $494,000. Also approved was a $10,000 down payment to Reiche Construction for the management of the construction project. Fire officials are working with an architect to complete design of the new building and solicit bids for the construction. Schlick said this station will be designated as Station 5. The district negotiated the sale with Reiche Partners LLC, representing multiple landowners of the property.
Fire officials say this project will be financed out of available district funds, and no public tax referendum nor special assessment will be needed.
This site is located at the southeast corner of the intersection of Dhamer Drive, Hennig Road, and FYH Drive. FYH Bearing’s manufacturing plant is located about 150 yards south of the intersection. The intersection is about 100 yards east of Sun City Boulevard, which is the main southern entrance into Sun City neighborhoods.
When this new station opens in 2019, Sun City will have a fire station located on its eastern edge, and another on its southern boundary.
This project was also driven by a district decision that its present headquarters building at 11808 Coral Street near Huntley’s town square, was too small and old to serve as an administrative and fire protection site. The building was built in 1958. When station 5 is completed, the district will move its entire administrative operation to its Annex building at 11118 Main Street, just west of Ruth Road.
Construction of station 5 is expected to start in the spring of 2019 and take about six months to complete, Schlick said. The new station will specifically serve Sun City and the Lakewood Crossing subdivision in Hampshire south of the I-90 Tollway. The fire district’s other facilities are Station 2 at 10490 Reed Road, and Station 4 at 4151 W. Algonquin Road, in Algonquin.
The Huntley Fire District is not a part of the Village of Huntley. It serves about 50,000 residents in all of Huntley and parts of Algonquin, Hampshire, and Lake in the Hills.
Schlick also said the Coral Street building will be sold, probably to a business that wants to become part of the new Huntley Town Square area.
“The village has done a wonderful job of improving the downtown area in the last few years, and we believe that this Coral Street site would be attractive to area businesses that would want to be a part of the village’s future downtown area,” he said.
