Building, Road Projects

Growth Raising Kane
In Area Near Chicago

by Pamela Dittmer McKuen

Kane County, about 40 mi west of Chicago, is experiencing one of the fastest growth spurts in the country.

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In 2000, the population numbered 404,199, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Six years later that number had grown to an estimated 494,000, an increase of more than 22% and one that surpassed projections for 2010.

The growth means that the county is investing heavily in infrastructure and services to meet the needs of present and future residents. Here's a look at some of the capital improvements under way:

Buildings

The largest is the new Kane County Sheriff's Office and Adult Justice Center, or jail, which brings the two functions onto the 80-acre government campus at Route 38 and Peck Road. A new courthouse was built there in 1992, and the Juvenile Justice Center is onsite.

The cost of the facility is roughly $56 million for the jail and $9 million for the sheriff's office. Funding comes from three sources: about $30 million from bond revenues and the rest cash on hand, which was reserved for the project.

"Dollar-wise, it's probably the largest building project we've ever taken on," says Tim Harbaugh, the county's environmental and building management director.

As the county's population has grown, so has the number of residents who run afoul of the law. The county's current jail has 399 beds, and the number of inmates has grown by 59% over the last decade, according to the Kane County Sheriff's Department.

"We are spending $2.5 million a year housing inmates in other counties," Harbaugh says. "The current jail is significantly undersized and over 30 years old and having maintenance issues. There is a great need to relocate the jail to where the courts are, and there are synergies and savings to that."

The difference between a jail and a prison is that jails house people who are serving sentences for lesser crimes such as misdemeanors or civil infractions or who are awaiting trial or sentencing. Prisons house those serving felony sentences. The jail houses people who are serving sentences for lesser crimes such as misdemeanors or civil infractions or who are awaiting trial or sentencing.

Kane County's facility is designed with two six-story jail towers, which are connected by a two-story module with jail-support services on the first floor and sheriff's quarters on the second floor. One tower is built with two-bunk cells and the other laid out for dormitory living. The jail will have 648 beds with shell space for 128 more to be added at a later date.

Judicial facilities take an expanded mindset to create, says general superintendent Tom Simon of M.A. Mortenson in Chicago, the project's general contractor. In most buildings, an important safety consideration is getting people out quickly in case of an emergency. That's true of judicial facilities as well, but builders and architects also must be concerned with keeping inmates in as well as maintaining security for them and the public.

"We have a very unforgiving type of construction because it's a precast structure with lots of masonry walls and concrete masonry unit-type walls grouted solid with reinforcing every few inches," he says. "It's very difficult to accomplish changes" for mechanical, safety and security elements, many of which wire through or adhere to the walls.

Another reason for the building's durability is that building codes call for emergency response facilities to be earthquake-resistant, a requirement not typically found in Illinois, says Steve Kiss, job captain and designer for the Naperville-based architectural firm of Healy Bender & Associates.

"The precast walls and cells work together to resist most of these forces," he says. "Lateral bracing is installed within the support building to absorb the rest."

Premanufacturing Done

As with the construction of most jails and prisons these days, the cells are built offsite for reasons of quality control and time.

"It helps reduce the schedule," says Jim Robertson, a partner at the Boulder, Colo.-based criminal justice planning and consulting firm Voorhis/Robertson Justice Services. "The cells can be prefabricated while we're doing other parts of the building."

"You've got to set the stalls first," Simon says. "You literally stack them on top of each other and build the building around them."

The cells, produced by Egyptian Concrete Co. in Salem, Ill., were installed in May. It took one of the largest cranes in the country, a 300-ton machine with a boom measuring 120 yds long and a 600,000-lb counterweight to do it.

"The cells were up in two weeks, but it took six months of planning," Simon says. "It takes a lot of coordination to prepare the site for the arrival of the crane and cells, and these are permitted loads."

The 33,000-sq-ft sheriff's office was not part of the original plan, but it was more efficient logistically and economically to build it at the same time. The space is allocated for such functions as administration, records, warrants, investigations, evidence and training. The public entrance sits on grade.

"The real efficiency is to have the court building connected to the detention building, and it makes sense for the sheriff's office to be connected as well," Kiss says. "Now they have multiple buildings where they are doing different things, and all of that will go away when they are able to get everything in one building."

Groundbreaking took place April 2006; the facility is scheduled for occupation in September 2008. The current jail and sheriff's office, at 777 E. Fabyan Parkway, will be vacated, and plans for that facility are uncertain, Harbaugh says.

SIDEBAR 1

Kane's Roads and Bridges

The Kane County Division of Transportation is responsible for maintaining and enhancing more than 310 centerline miles. Its funding comes from property taxes, motor fuel taxes, government and developer reimbursements and impact fees. The redesign of two heavily traveled intersections will be completed this year.