The station, which will be located at the northeast corner of Shepard and Hershey streets next to the Blackstone Trails neighborhood, is the second in a three-part plan to realign Normal’s fire stations to improve response times. The first project was the construction of the headquarters on Main Street, which was completed in 2017.

While some questioned the city’s plans, Fire Chief Mick Humer said the station was essential to ensuring acceptable response times for firefighters and paramedics on Normal’s developing northeast border.

“I think that once we are here, people will overwhelmingly be happy that we are here,” he said after the meeting. “I said this in 2019 and I say it today: We are good neighbors.”

Plans call for a one-story, 100-square-foot building. While the cost was initially listed at $4.75 million, Humer said a final figure reflecting rising construction costs will be available by the City Council’s expected Aug. 19 vote on the station.

If the council approves, construction could begin as early as Oct. 9 and would take about a year, depending on weather conditions, Hummer said.

The council had previously approved a design and construction contract with Core Construction for the new station during a meeting almost a year ago.

The design team presented the proposed plans at a neighborhood meeting on April 10, which was publicized throughout the Blackstone neighborhood.

There was one public comment during Thursday’s planning meeting. A resident who was still in favor of the new station objected to the process, feeling that other neighbors were not heard in 2019 when the city rezoned the southwest corner of the residential area for the future fire station from an R-2 (mixed residential) zone to an S-2 (public lands and facilities) zone.

Humer said the closest station to the area is the current Fire Station 2 (the department’s former headquarters) at 1300 East College Avenue, and from there it is about 9.5 minutes to Normal Community High School, Grove Elementary School, The Village at Mercy Creek senior living facility and the surrounding area.

The department tries to reach all locations in the city within 4½ to 6 minutes, which is a national standard, so the new station is necessary, Humer said.

Humer said there have been numerous emergency calls and two kitchen fires in the Blackstone development over the past year or two. In one of the fire incidents, an elderly resident was rescued by her neighbors as she was unable to get out herself due to a health condition.

“We’re very grateful to their neighbors for getting them out of the house before we got there, but we discourage people from going into a burning house,” Humer said. “We want to be on the scene in time to respond to things like this, and that’s why being able to get there in 4½ to 6 minutes is so important to us.”

Humer said the need for a new fire station only became apparent when development began in the Blackstone neighborhood and other residential areas.

In 2009, the city approved an annexation agreement allowing the Blackstone neighborhood to be built on about 106.5 acres of land between Shepard, Hershey and Raab streets and the Eagle’s Landing neighborhood, city documents show.

The land was subsequently annexed and rezoned to a combination of R-1B (single family) and R-2 (mixed use); the Blackstone development includes a large retention basin on the southeast side.

Construction of residential units in Blackstone began at the south end and steadily moved northward. The neighborhood is currently about half built out.

“It’s a good move for the community to have this station there,” Hummer added.

The fire station’s exterior will be brick with stone accents, including a stone band in the upper third and a cast stone foundation. All rooftop utilities will be shielded.

The main facade with the three large garage doors faces Shepard Road to the south and is made mostly of glass with a red frame.

The facade will also include residential-sized windows with awnings for the bedrooms inside.

The north facade will include three additional large garage doors with a ribbon window and an entrance highlighted by an awning and side windows.

All access to the station is via Hershey Road. Emergency vehicles enter via the north entrance, drive through the building, and exit via the south entrance. Employee and visitor access is on the north side of the building.

There will be 18 parking spaces north of the building for firefighters and visitors to the nearby Blackstone Detention Basin and Trail. One parking lot will have an electric vehicle charging station, a walkway will connect the parking lot to the trail, and a bike rack will be located at the northeast corner of the parking lot.

The site will have required lighting and landscaping with non-decorative luminaires and light poles on the south and east sides of the parking areas. The light poles will be fitted with glare shields to minimise glare onto adjacent properties and there will be a number of trees and shrubs on the north and east sides of the building.

The east side of the building will have a covered terrace with a brick knee wall at the edge and four windows for the bedrooms.

The west side will be equipped with windows at the top to illuminate the vehicle area, as well as a brick grille for the dumpster and generator.

In addition, the Planning Commission approved two zoning amendments for the northeast corner of Orlando Avenue and Northbrook Drive and the southwest corner of Shelbourne Drive and Constitution Trail. The council is expected to vote on them on August 19.

Approximately 2.7 acres at the Orlando-Northbrook site have been zoned for B-1 general business use since the mid-1980s.

Applicant Gopinath Kalyanasundaram owned the property for many years but sold part of it to build what is now the Unity Community Center at 632 Orlando Avenue. The pending zoning change applies to the remaining 1.68 acres that are not yet developed.

The Planning Commission recommended that the Council change the zoning for the property from B-1 to R-3A (medium density multi-family).

The 0.85-acre property at the intersection of Shelbourne and Constitution Trail was rezoned from R-3A (medium-density multifamily housing) to S-2 (public lands and facilities) so the city can leave it undeveloped until plans to mitigate stormwater drainage problems move forward.

Christ Church, 1301 N. Linden St., purchased the property in 2006 for possible future use, but later determined that the site was not suitable for development for a variety of reasons, including soil quality and drainage issues.

After the city council approved the purchase, the church sold the land to the city in May for $10.