Opposition to a truck stop and cannabis dispensary development slated for construction next to the Milan Bottoms, a critical eagle habitat along Highway 280 in Rock Island, has taken flight among local conservation groups and concerned citizens. City leaders and developers are touting the $10 million project, adjacent to the Bally’s Casino, as an economic jackpot for the area, but opponents worry its noise and light pollution will drive away bald eagles and other endangered species roosting next door.
“The truck stop will, if not completely destroy the night roosts, it’ll go a long way to having a negative impact,” said Kelly McKay, a retired biologist and a local expert on the eagle population in Milan Bottoms for the last 40 years.
On a frigid mid-February morning at the development site, McKay told WVIK the 3,500 acre swath of wetlands and hardwoods across the highway, can sometimes host up to 800 birds on a given night.
“It'll greatly diminish the number of birds that night roost in here [Milan Bottoms] … which will significantly impact survival rates of the eagle population wintering in the Quad Cities, because they need night roosts … [which] are critical to eagles during the winter – helps them conserve energy, helps them survive the winter.”
The city of Rock Island and the developers Matt Stern and Jeff Hughbanks, comprising A HANA ILLOWA LLC, started discussions in August 2024 about developing two parcels one with Nature’s Treatment Illinois cannabis dispensary and the other including a truck stop, car wash and franchise restaurant.
In January, the developers and the city signed an agreement giving the developers three years to finish construction or forfeit the land back to the city. The city is also planning to extend its Parkway/I-280 Casino tax increment financing (TIF) district to include the development site and the wetlands surrounding the area.
Rock Island Community Development Director Miles Brainard told WVIK the TIF would reimburse the developers $6 million or 50% of the total project development cost. The city is also creating a business development district or BDD to obtain a small slice of sales tax revenue from the casino and planned dispensary and truck stop to fund future improvements at the site or improve the wetlands.
“We here at the city care a lot about the wetlands and the creatures living out there. And we want as best we can preserve and enhance those wetlands,” Brainard said in phone interview with WVIK. “One of the things this development provides us with is a revenue source to invest back into the wetlands. We would really like to do some work down the road to establish that municipal wetland reserve and enhance it, preserve it, make it more of an asset to the community as a whole.”
Another skeptic of the development is Executive Director of Nahant Marsh, Brian Ritter, who said he spoke to city officials in 2022 after the RiverStone Group donated 538 acres to the city of Rock Island, hoping to hear they wouldn’t develop any of the wetlands. He joined other concerned residents at the development site last month reiterating his concerns.
“It’s our greatest concern because we know this is one of the most critical areas for bald eagles in the wintertime,” Ritter said in an interview at the development site. “And night-roosting bald eagles do not seem to tolerate a lot of human disturbance.’
‘Now we know there's a highway along here, and that's one thing. But if we're going to be putting a major development on this property that butts up next to one of the most important eagle places in the lower 48 states in the wintertime, that could really drive the eagles away from our area. And that would be a huge disservice because eagles are an economic driver in our area. We know that people come to the Quad Cities from all over the place to see eagles, and the [if] eagles disappear? That's not good for our economy either.’”
Rock Island resident Lori McCollum joined Quad Citizens in February to tour the development site. She said her grandkids watch live eagle cams online and participate in the Quad Cities Eagle Days.
“The eagles are really important to the Quad Cities and everything I’ve read would show that this would negatively impact the eagle population here,” McCollum said. She said she’s supporting groups asking the city to take another look at the proposed development and find a different location for the truck stop.
McKay followed up with WVIK after a meeting with city officials, stating that the city and developers have no intention of relocating the truck stop.
Brainard, who was a part of the city meeting, said he and the city heard concerns from various environmental groups and residents.
“There is no plan whatsoever to do any development in the wetland,” Brainard said.
He shared that the city conducted an initial environmental survey after acquiring the land. He said the wetlands had no signs of major pollutants and the only issue was a couple of abandoned boats. They conducted separate surveys on the Casino West site, the proposed development, stating no endangered species were located on the site as well as a geotechnical report claiming the soil is buildable.
The city is currently waiting for the developers to share their site design plans to initiate the next phase of the development.
“It's reviewed for compliance with our adopted zoning codes, and if it's found to be in compliance, they're able to move to the next phase of actually submitting architectural drawings and those sorts of things for review by our inspections division. There's no public input on those things unless they're asking for a deviation or a variance from our codes,” Brainard said.
Once the plans are delivered, the city will review stormwater management, landscaping and lighting. WVIK asked Brainard if the city codes include reviewing sound.
“Sound is not specifically mentioned in our local codes. However, it is something we do anecdotally consider. What we call it in the zoning code is buffering. So we try to buffer for both light and sound,” Brainard said. “A good way of thinking about this is if you have a commercial use next to a residential use, you require them to put in a fence and some landscaping to kind of create a barrier and reduce kind of the light and sound getting from one property to the other. This is another case where we will be looking at that kind of buffering around the site. The developer has indicated their intention to leave the existing trees along the boundary of the property sort of along the slope as it goes down into the water in place. A lot of that is pretty mature woods, we think that will do quite a lot to reduce some of that noise and sound concerns as well as the light.”
Another resident who toured the development site in February is Bob Bryant, former director of the Clinton County Conservation Department. He was attending Western Illinois University in 1972 studying botany, when he was approached to help with bald eagle research. One thing led to another, with Bryant assisting in the research and presenting it in 1982 in Davenport during the first Upper Mississippi River Conference on bald eagles.
He said the night roosts are crucial for wintering bald eagles.
“You could force the bald eagle to fly off the nest too much, it burns that energy up. They can be disturbed [only so much] they’ll leave or they’ll have a problem surviving. You just don’t know. You got to worry about those that start nesting too. Now with this project, to me to put it honestly, I think it’s shameful. The first conference on the upper Mississippi River for bald eagles was held here, such a big thing and national-wide with the experts that did this. This place is important and it needs to be protected.”
To show support and raise awareness for the bald eagles that nest in the Milan Bottoms, the coalition of environmental groups and residents are hosting two “roost-ins” this month. Participants include: the Sierra Club Eagle View Group, the Quad City Audubon Society, The RARE Group, River Action, Progressive Action for the Common Good, Nahant Marsh Education Center, The Guardians of the Prairie and Forest, Eagle Valley Nature Preserve, BioEco Research and Monitoring Center, and Ferry Bluff Eagle Council.
The first is Wednesday, March 12th, from 6 to 10 a.m. at the development site across from Bally’s Casino. A second “roost-in” is scheduled on Monday, March 17th at 4:30 in the afternoon before the city of Rock Island’s public hearing for the proposed expanded TIF district covering the development site and the surrounding wetlands.
The latest Rock Island City Council meeting, held on Monday, March 10th, included multiple public comments regarding the project, including McKay. He said he’s heard from the media that the city appreciates the wetlands, but he wants protections in writing.
“Well, now’s the time to prove it. And the way you can prove it, is by protecting THE single most important piece of habitat in the entire region for this species. And the way you do it is by not proceeding with the development as planned right now. Bottom line is you can have this development as being proposed or you can have a vital and thriving bald eagle wintering population. Unfortunately, you can’t have both.”
WVIK reached out to the developers for comment and did not hear back before publication on March 11th.
03/12/25 Clarification: The environmental coalition is concerned specifically about eagle roosting, not nesting. WVIK changed three uses of the word within the story and headline. Any mention within a quote remains untouched.
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