Southwest Side Chicago residents want old armory turned into police station, but city says it can't happen
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Seven years after a National Guard armory closed on the city's Southwest Side, a debate is raging over what should happen to the building.
Along any sidewalk or road in the 13th Ward, signs are everywhere encouraging calls to Mayor Brandon Johnson because those living in the community want a police station.
A now-closed National Guard Armory in the Clearing neighborhood in the 5400 block West 63rd Street, at Long Avenue, is the proposed site for the new police station. The area is currently part of the Chicago Lawn (8th) District, a vast district that covers most of the city's Southwest Side, and for which the station is located two and a half miles away at 3420 W. 63rd St.
"The district is 26 square miles. It's the size of a city," she said. "We need the extra officers. We need our own station."
City data show while murders and shootings are down from last year in the Chicago Lawn District, robberies and aggravated assaults are up.
"Crime is rampant everywhere these days. No matter where you go, crime is an issue," Ziegler said. "But our people need to be protected."
The armory at 63rd and Long closed back in 2017. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker recently signed a bill to transfer the armory for $1 from the state to the city for a new police district station.
City lawyers have said the armory cannot be used as a police station because of air traffic safety rules. The armory is located next to a runway at Midway International Airport, and is thus in a runway protection zone.
The Mayor's office also said in a statement that the facility "is taller than FAA regulations would allow at that location for a non-aeronautical purpose."
Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) said the n newly-constructed John Hancock College Preparatory High School, 5437 W. 64th Pl., is three blocks from the armory and also in a runway protection zone. In that case, the community got a variance from the Federal Aviation Administration to build a third story on the school, which opened in 2021.
Quinn said a variance should be granted for the armory too.
"This could easily be a police district," said Quinn. "There are two buildings here. I'm just interested in the building that faces 63rd Street right here, which is the smaller of the two. The FAA looks at height. The back building, which faces the airfield—the one in which the mayor may be interested in—that is 15 feet higher than the front building."
Lawmakers have now sent a letter to Gov. Pritzker asking him to put the transfer of the armory on hold from the state to the city.
