Glen Ellyn Offers Grants To Encourage Businesses To Protect Buildings with Fire Sprinklers

The Village of Glen Ellyn offers a Fire Prevention Award Program to help downtown businesses and property owners meet vital life-safety code improvements including retrofitting buildings with fire sprinklers. The program is part of three business improvement options that support local businesses, many of which are part of the historic stock that makes the Village unique.

Both installations and upgrades of fire sprinkler systems qualify for the program, including any needed water service improvements. Rather than funding these enhancements outright, the awards are meant to encourage local businesses to invest in improved fire protection.

Approved projects are awarded on a sliding scale, with a maximum grant of $15,000. The village board determines all awards and grant amounts. Installation must be completed within a year of board approval and the awards are issued after documentation and inspection.

According to Fire Chief Chris Clark, Glen Ellyn Volunteer Fire Company, to date, the village has awarded $124,500 in fire prevention grants. “The Village of Glen Ellyn has a long history of supporting fire prevention through the use of built-in fire suppression systems,” Clark said. “Fire sprinklers play an important role in preventing economic loss due to business interruption and closure. Most important, they protect our residents, visitors and firefighters from injury and death while helping control the public cost of fire protection.”

Commercial properties in the downtown Central Business Districts and Roosevelt Road TIF District areas that want to increase their fire protection are eligible to apply for the funding to install or improve fire sprinkler systems and fire alarm systems. Information and application materials are available on the village website.

“There is no better fire protection than installed fire sprinklers,” says NIFSAB Executive Director Erik Hoffer. “Now more than ever, local businesses could benefit from this type of assistance to improve their buildings. The program offered by the village of Glen Ellyn provides a generous incentive that will preserve Glen Ellyn’s charming downtown for the enjoyment of future generations by making the buildings more fire-safe for decades to come.”

Glenn Ellyn joins several other northern Illinois communities offering progressive public safety investments; others offering fire sprinkler installation incentive programs for commercial buildings Lockport and Plainfield, while Hodgkins offers an incentive program for homes.

In addition to the local grants, business and building owners can utilize federal tax reform bills to accelerate cost recovery for the installation, upgrade, or retrofit of fire sprinkler systems in their properties. For more information, visit NIFSAB’s website Tax Incentive page.