Helping a downtown business and backyard chickens are on the agenda Monday night for the Rock Island city council.
Aldermen are scheduled to discuss helping Skellington Manor, in the former Masonic Temple building on 18th Street, with 50,000 dollars from revenue from the downtown tax increment financing district. The event center would use the money to pay for tuck pointing and brick replacement, and replacing the parking lot.
In August, Rock Island aldermen directed staff to prepare an ordinance that would allow city residents to keep chickens. The proposed ordinance, modeled on one approved recently in Moline, would permit up to 6 hens and chicken coops would have to be at least 10 feet from all property lines and 25 feet from homes.
The city would also charge a 25 dollar application fee.