New Southwest Side police station gets a push from Illinois congressmen

Three members of Congress — including U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia — are pushing back against Mayor Brandon Johnson’s reliance on federal air traffic safety rules to justify his decision to use a former National Guard armory as an equipment storehouse instead of a new Southwest Side police district.

The shuttered armory area alderpersons have wanted to turn into a new police station is next to Midway Airport. In a letter to Johnson Friday, Garcia, a former mayoral challenger, and fellow Illinois Democrats Sean Casten and Brad Schneider added federal muscle to the campaign for a new station, which would speed response times in a Chicago Lawn police district serving the second-largest geographic area with the fewest officers per capita.

While they share Johnson’s “focus on aviation safety," Casten, Garcia and Schneider said they “believe there is a path forward” to allow the former Illinois National Guard Armory at 5400 W. 63rd St., which the state is donating to city for $1, to be used to create that new police district in Chicago Lawn.

The representatives acknowledged federal law simply requires “notice about any proposed construction, alteration, establishment or expansion of a structure that could interfere with air commerce.” But it also offers a work-around: having the Federal Aviation Administration conduct an “aeronautical study to assess the impact” of those structures on air traffic.

“The FAA then evaluates whether the facility might interfere with navigation or communications transmissions from the airport or other air navigation facilities,” the letter states.

“In discussions with the FAA, we are confident that the addition of a city police precinct would comply with their regulations," the letter continued. "In addition, since the airport does not own the land, the FAA does not have jurisdiction over its use as a police precinct.”

That does not mean the new police station has been cleared for political takeoff.

Casten, Garcia and Schneider acknowledged the FAA will have to be “informed throughout the land development process,” and that the city must work with the FAA to “develop a solution for the use of the land," which borders the Midway runways, "as well as building height restriction if new structures are built on the land.”

The city may also “need to discuss options with the FAA to separate part of the land from abutting Air Operations Areas of Midway Airport,” their letter states.

But the members of Congress also wrote: “We are confident that, with active collaboration and communication with the FAA, the armory can be converted into a police precinct, as the law [turning it over to the city] intended. ... Therefore, we urge the city to start the process of converting" the building, adding: "The community strongly supports this development, recognizing its significant benefit to public safety in the area.”

Chief Operating Officer John Roberson could not be reached for comment on the letter. But in a column published in the Sun-Times earlier this week, Roberson said using the 84-year-old armory as a police station “poses significant regulatory, safety and operational challenges.”

Roberson noted the armory, is “intersecting a security fence” and “extremely close to the end of runway 4R-22L.”

The donated building “exceeds standard height limits for structures” near a runway, but had been “allowed due to the essential military aviation mission of the National Guard,” Robereson wrote. Without FAA approval, the building “may have to be partially demolished, or runway 4R-22L would have to be shortened,” Roberson wrote.

Roberson also cited the "security risk to the national transportation system" posed by converting the armory to public use.

"Any personnel entering the secured area would require additional security screening that could strain existing city resources. Since a police station is communal by nature and would have the public entering and exiting the facility, converting the former armory for that purpose would not meet security standards," he wrote.

City Council members Marty Quinn (13th) and Silvana Tabares (23rd) are leading the charge for the new police station, with support from Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, whose 600 officers have provided an increasing level of support for the underserved Chicago Lawn district.

The demand for a new station — and the officers to staff it — comes as Johnson struggles to close a $223 million budget gap this year and a nearly $1 billion shortfall next year. But if the mayor continues to oppose the new station, the seven Council members whose wards touch the Chicago Lawn district could band together and make it more difficult for the mayor to pass a budget.