Municipal agendas for Rockton, Roscoe, and South Beloit this week

Elected officials in Rockton, Roscoe, and South Beloit are holding their twice-monthly meetings this week, on Monday, June 17 and Tuesday, June 18, 2024. South Beloit is holding zoning meetings on Thursday, June 20, 2024.

On Tuesday, the Village of Rockton will be voting on new appointments.

• Brent Murray of the Dairyhaus and Diana Weiser of DeeDee's Coffee and Decor have been nominated for five-year terms on the Planning Commission.
• Mark Meichtry and Erica Smith have been nominated to the Historic Preservation Commission for three-year terms.
• Gary Kovanda & Marc Smith have been nominated to the Zoning Board of Appeals for five-year terms.

Trustees are expected to approve a special events application for "movies in the park” at the Rockton Athletic Complex between June – October. Elemental is scheduled on June 28, with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on June 29.

Salli’s Slots at 124 S. Blackhawk Blvd. has applied for a special use permit so they can have an outdoor seating area.

Trustees will vote on their annual appropriations ordinance to fund the Village's operations from June 1, 2024 until May 31, 2025.

Trustees are expected to approve $8,786.50 for two user safety management suites for OSHA reporting and documentation from J.J. Keller & Associates, and $8,082.10 for Public Works software from Brightly Software.

In South Beloit, another public meeting will be held Thursday at 4:45 p.m. about a new addition to Hidden Creek Estates, at 13390 White School Road, Roscoe, adjacent to their existing event venue.

Immediately afterwards, at 5 p.m., South Beloit commissioners will hold a special council meeting to decide whether to grant the special use permit. Hidden Creek Estates wants to be able to offer "accessory food and drinks onsite, as well as merchandise sales, parking, housing and continued use of existing farming and barn uses." Public comment is welcome during designated portions of the meeting.

At 6 p.m., the city's Zoning Board of Appeals will hold its regular meeting. One item on the agenda: a text amendment to allow hens in "certain residential districts." Also, Jesse Contreras is asking permission to have a haunted house on Progressive Lane, if the ZBA decides to allow "temporary special amusement events" in Commercial Retail districts.

At Monday's regular council meeting, commissioners discussed terminating Fire Chief services with the City of Beloit effective July 31, 2024, and hiring Rock Road Companies for roadway and pavement improvements as part of the City’s 2024 Motor Fuel Tax Road Project.

The Village of Roscoe meeting will consider a special event permit for Top Prospects Inaugural Charity Bowl, scheduled for July 13, 2024, at Riverside Park. The board is making plans for National Night Out, scheduled for Tuesday, August 6, 2024 on Main Street from Bridge Street to the bridge. The police department is budgeted to spend $1,000 for the event, plus overtime for officers.

The board will discuss the $19,290 bid from from Northern Illinois Service Company (NISC) to demolish a house at 11243 Main Street, another property which the Village purchased for future development. Asbestos abatement has already been completed.

Roscoe trustees will also consider a settlement agreement for a lawsuit with White Oak Home Builders. Developer Josh Petry sued the Village after trustees rescinded their approval for his "Plat 6 of Hawks Pointe Subdivision" in May 2023, which made up about half of his planned multi-family development on Roscoe Road. Work has gone ahead on Plat 5. The law firm Ancel Glink has represented the Village in the lawsuit.

Two trustees, Michael Wright and William Babcock, are residents of Hawks Pointe. In fact, they decided to run for office because they were displeased with the Board's approval of the development despite the objections from residents. And they helped provided the majority votes to rescind approval. Trustees Stacy Mallicoat and Justin Plock, who voted to approve the development, have consistently voted not to pay the legal fees for the lawsuit.

More News from Rockton

• Behold the wild blackberry: the sweet, thorny weed Or are those technically wild black raspberries along the roads and paths?
• Four days of Old Settlers Days 2024 Each day of the OSD festival, the Rockton Lions Club presented a large check to a different community organization.