New Roscoe housing development passes

ROSCOE, Ill. (WIFR) - Mixed emotions from community members towards the Roscoe Village Board tonight at a board meeting after divided trustees voted yes to allow a zoning change.

“The vast majority I’m gonna say 100 to 1, are against changing it to multi-family,” said Roscoe Village Trustee Michael Dunn.

Dunn was one of the three trustees who voted no to this development.

The change will allow for construction of up to 150 multi-family units off Old River Road and Roscoe Roads, currently a commercially zoned area.

The vote came to a three to three divide in the board leaving Village President Mark Szula as the tiebreaker, who ultimately voted yes to the proposal.

“Growth is good when it’s planned, this is not planned,” said one public commenter.

Many concerns were expressed to the board, some including speeding and traffic issues. Dunn says this development will create a shortcut in a nearby subdivision, raising extreme safety concerns for children.

“With the number of kids in that subdivision,” he said. “Say, if a garbage truck is stopped, people go around garbage trucks because they’re slow, so someone goes around and a kid steps out... ”

Another major concern was brought up by Rockton School District Superintendent Glenn Terry. He says he is all for a change in the community, but right now the teacher to student ratio is a huge concern, and this will increase it even more by bringing a major onslaught of students at once.

“There’s a teacher shortage in Illinois, I can’t even staff what I have now,” said Terry.

Even though majority of the room was opposed to this development, there were some who believe this change needs to happen.

“The only way to address the sky rocketing housing prices is to build more houses,” said one public commenter.

Overall, the overwhelming reaction from the room, was the hope for a more thought out decision by the village. They also added they would not be opposed to single family housing as it may cause less of a strain on roads and schools.

“We know something has to go there, but not this,” said one public commenter.

Dunn says now that the board has passed this, the next step is a traffic survey to be done by the county to see if the roads can handle this change in traffic.

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