Safe Passage, DeKalb County’s only domestic violence and sexual assault crisis center, is one step closer to tying up the final step needed to build a new facility in DeKalb.

At its meeting this week, the DeKalb Planning and Zoning Commission gave a preliminary nod to Safe Passage and its plans for the property at 217 Franklin St. Chairman Max Maxwell was absent.

The City Council still needs to weigh in on the matter.

Safe Passage of DeKalb County development director Christine Kalina said the agency has been located in its current establishment for more than 40 years, and hopes a new facility will be around another 40 years.

The crisis shelter’s plans have been a long time in the making.

In 2021, the city authorized a site building plan for the project. Since then, the crisis shelter’s plans have seen some revisions, which require city review.

Safe Passage originally intended to construct a 42,000-square-foot building in a two-story structure, city documents show. Now, the crisis shelter is planning for a one-story building at 14,025 square feet with another 2,800 square feet in the basement.

The changes, Kalina said, reflect the availability of funding and the nonprofit’s commitment to being fiscally responsible while still meeting the needs of DeKalb County residents facing domestic violence.

In 2024, U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville, helped secure federal funding in the amount of $2.5 million to support the build.

Vice Chairman Bill McMahon questioned what Safe Passage plans to do with the other properties the agency is using.

“Does this mean you’re going to keep the other properties?” McMahon said.

In response, Kalina said it’s not yet set in stone which properties the agency will try to sell, as it looks to condense programming space.

“We’re in heavy discussions right now with our capital campaign committee ... and our board right now to repurpose the properties that we do own,” Kalina said. “We do own, kind of in a little corridor, about six buildings, including the shelter that our clients reside in right now.”

Safe Passage is also renting space in the old city annex building, along with a few other properties.

Kalina said the agency plans to continue leasing these properties once the new DeKalb facility comes online.

Construction of the new DeKalb facility is expected to start soon. A groundbreaking ceremony was recently held by Safe Passage in celebration of this milestone.

City staff said the agency hopes to open its new facility in late 2026.