12-06-2022 12:29am

Village of Roscoe Board expected to approve taxes, 150 townhomes, and 34 liquor licenses

Michael McGinnis Editor

A final vote will be held Tuesday on Plat 5 of Hawks Pointe, where a multi-family development is being planned.

Board members of the Village of Roscoe are meeting Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. at the Village Hall. As always, the public is invited to sit in on the proceedings and to sign up to make brief comments during the allotted time at the beginning and end of each meeting.

At Tuesday's meeting, public comments are likely. Few residents attend meetings for the approval of tax rates and renewal of liquor licenses. But this week, trustees will be taking a final vote on Plat 5 of the Hawks Pointe subdivision.

The controversial Plat 5 of Hawks Pointe, at Roscoe Road and Old River Road, is owned by developer Josh Petry, who plans to build The Townhomes at White Oak. Petry said he expected that investors would rent out these multi-family units.

At the most recent Committee of the Whole meeting, all the trustees voted to send the issue on the full board except Sue Petty and Carol Gustafson, who have consistently voted against allowing multi-family housing there. In April, Village President Mark Szula broke a 3-3 tie to allow the parcel to be rezoned as multi-family residential. Since then, trustee Michael Dunn has also voted in favor of the development, making Tuesday's expected vote 4-2.

In February and March 2022, Petry showed the Village designs that depicted 38 clusters of four upscale units, with two car garages. But Gustafson says new drawings approved on Nov. 8 by the Village's Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) "show many smaller units with single car garages clustered in what I would call ‘barracks formation.’" According to Gustafson, Petry has stated the tighter clusters would save him money in materials. Says Gustafson, who is running for Village President against Mark Szula, "I still believe this is an undesirable project & have voted accordingly."

At the meeting, the Village of Roscoe is also expected to approve the Village's 2022 property tax levy. The tentative levy was approved at the Nov. 1 meeting. After that, trustees are expected to abate the levy for General Obligation Alternate Bond Series 2017 and 2018. They also plan to approve a settlement agreement with Jacob Feldhaus, who was sworn in as a Roscoe police officer on Sept. 3, 2019, graduated from the Illinois State Police Academy, and began working with the Roscoe Police Department in December 2019.

The Liquor Commission meets at 6 p.m. to consider 33 liquor license renewals for 2023. No Roscoe business is asking for a license for on-premises consumption of beer & wine only. All the licenses up for renewal will allow full liquor sales. Four licenses (Class A) allow both on & off premises consumption. Eleven (Class “BL”) allow on-premises consumption with boutique gaming. Eight (Class “C”) allow only off-premises consumption, while six (Class “F”) allow only on-premises consumption. One ( Class “BP”) is for a brew pub to allow on-premises consumption of liquor (not just beer). One (Class “CT”) is a catering retailer to allow off-premises consumption. Two (Class “G”) allow beer & wine to be sold for off-premises consumption only. The board is also expected to approve a new Class BL Boutique Gaming liquor license for Anna’s Lucky 777 on Swanson Road.