ECC president: Burlington site best for safety center

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Updated: November 10, 2011 5:47PM

ELGIN — Elgin Community College President David Sam says the Burlington site the school has chosen for its planned Public Safety and Sustainability Center is the “best location for everything.”

Sam’s comments to The Courier-News editors followed Elgin City Manager Sean Stegall’s remark last month that it “remains to be seen” whether Elgin emergency responders will use the planned training facilities at that site.

Elgin Fire Capt. Robb Cagann also had said last month that sending on-duty Elgin firefighters to train to Huntley in the past “effectively stripped the city of having those firefighters available, should a larger emergency have happened.”

The training facilities in Huntley and the site in Burlington both are about 15 miles away from Elgin’s fire station at 550 Summit St.

But, Sam said, “We are a 360-square-mile district, and what we know is that we have to serve the whole district.”

Elgin Community College District 509 includes Elgin, South Elgin, East and West Dundee, Gilberts, Sleepy Hollow, Pingree Grove, Hampshire, Burlington, Bartlett, Streamwood, St. Charles, Plato Center, Wayne, Wasco and Lily Lake. It also includes parts of Carpentersville, Huntley, Algonquin, Lake in the Hills, Hanover Park, Campton Hills and other communities.

All those communities were invited in June 2010 to submit proposals to host the college’s Public Safety and Sustainability Center, Sam said. Five did: Elgin, South Elgin, East Dundee, Hampshire and Burlington.

After nearly a year of review, ECC announced in May it had selected the 98-acre site in Burlington, owned by Kenyon Bros. Corp. It is on the north side of Burlington Road, between the Canadian National/Illinois Central Railroad tracks and Romke Road.

Sam stressed that the $15 million center will bring together facilities for a number of community college programs, including training for firefighters, police and other first-responders. It also will house the college’s truck driving and energy management and sustainability programs.

“We need a lot of space to be able to do that, and that location, in combination with everything, provided us with what we need,” Sam said.

He said the community college and land owner now are “in the appraisal stage.” Once those required appraisals of the land are completed, he said, ECC will proceed with its plans to purchase the land and build the center.