The Rock Island City Council is selling a nearly ten acre parcel of land adjacent to the Milan Bottoms wetlands amid public backlash.
Council members voted unanimously on Monday night, October 27th, to sell the Casino-West site to developers A Hana Illowa LLC, consisting of Nature’s Treatment of Illinois cannabis dispensary owner Matt Stern and Rymak Construction Group LLC Managing Partner Jeff Hughbanks. They propose to build a cannabis dispensary, a car wash, a franchise restaurant, and a truck stop, as noted by Hughbanks in a letter published in the River Cities’ Reader back in July.
Friends of the Milan Bottoms, an informal group of local conservationists, have been requesting the city deny the development at the site since its close proximity to the largest night roosting area for bald eagles in the lower 48 states. Some members have suggested the development parcel is land used by various species during periods of flooding.
Earlier in the year, city officials and Hughbanks held a press conference stating their intention to create an easement in the wetlands themselves, barring future development, and form a Wetland Task Force. The easement was passed in July, registering the southwest portion of the city-owned wetlands as a Land and Water Reserve with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The resolution states the Wetland Task Force will work with the Illinois DNR to form a wetland management plan.
During Monday’s meeting, 5th Ward Councilman Dylan Parker said the council does not judge the quality of the environmental studies conducted by Terracon, which the developers paid to complete, but the Illinois DNR. Councilman Parker called on Community Development Director Miles Brainard to expand.
“The city is itself not the jurisdiction responsible for the enforcement of those regulations,” Director Brainard said during the discussion on the land sale. “It is the relevant agencies mentioned. They are also the agencies responsible for continued monitoring moving forward into the phase of construction. Again, if anything comes up during construction or during the life of the project relevant to their regulatory frameworks, it is their responsibility to follow up on those matters. And of course, they are committed to doing so.”
Councilman Parker says if the developers did include lighting that does not follow the Dark-Sky Association's Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting to minimize light pollution, the tax increment financing section in the development agreement would be void. The city agreed to use TIF funding from the Parkway/I-280 TIF district to reimburse the developers up to $6 million, which could be half of the development cost, between $12-$15 million.
“Okay, so for the people watching at home and in the audience, if hypothetical situation, the developer does not follow one of the recommendations that the environmental protection organizations made, for example, they don't install appropriate exterior lighting,” Councilman Parker said while inquiring with City Attorney Leslie Day. “They just install any old lighting that they want. They would no longer be eligible for the financial incentives that the city of Rock Island has offered for the project. We would claw back the incentives, and they would get nothing from the city.”
Rock Island’s City Attorney Leslie Day responded.
“That would be correct. They would be in a breach of the development agreement at that point if they were not to follow all the state and federal laws and regulations,” City Attorney Day said during the land sale discussion.
During public comment, Taylor Ridge resident Tim Presley says he owns an easement near the development and has been exploring the area for over 50 years. He says the area should be preserved and asked the council where the developers are during this public process.
“I have family and friends that live here,” Presley said. “They're going to be the sole people that are going to have to pay for this development. You have not heard anything from the Illinois EPA on what is going to be needed to do. You have not seen anything from the state marshal on whether you can even put fuel tanks into this area.”
Presley continued by asking the council why the development needed to go on the outskirts of the city rather than in areas that needed financial boosts, like downtown.
A member of the city’s Wetland Task Force, Nina Struss, who is also the Prairie Rivers Network River Health and Resiliency Organizer, spoke during public comment against the development location. She says the project presents disproportionate risks to the community compared to the estimated tax benefits, citing a climate crisis that causes frequent flooding and extreme rainfall.
“I asked the council to find alternative resources that do not rely on the perpetuation of dangerous fossil fuels,” Struss said. “As I have shared previously, our flood modeling for the Casino West site reveals significant hazards that threaten the proposed development. Despite being technically out of the floodplain, the parcel sits at a lower elevation than surrounding residential areas, and our flood models show the site could experience heavy flooding as early as 2030. These findings raise serious questions about the wisdom of intensive commercial development at the site. They also include unacceptable environmental risks to the Milan Bottoms wetlands area, ranging from chronic accumulation of oil and diesel from normal operations to catastrophic petroleum leaks.”
First Ward Councilman Glen Evans Sr. and Third Ward Councilwoman Linda Barnes noted hearing opposition to the land sale, but stated the city’s financial need for development.
“So, you know, it does not bring me pleasure to have to vote for the sale. But then again, I have a fiscal responsibility and working in the finance department for 23 years. I do know that the city is facing a lot of financial challenges,” Councilwoman Barnes said. “I mean, we just recently had the pension contribution actuary report, and we are not able to fully fund our fire and police pension funds.’ *Audience member saying ‘You cannot undue this change’ * ‘So without a significant increase in revenue. We're looking at a very real possibility of having to raise property tax rates in the near future. *Audience member continues inaudible yelling as Mayor says please* ‘So that's something I know none of us want.”
During Councilwoman Barnes remarks members of the public started to heckle council in their justification for the vote. That led to retired biologist Kelly McKay, who has spent years in the wetlands, being asked to leave the chamber during a back-and-forth with Director Brainard, who was reading findings from recent environmental studies contradicting claims that the new business will drive away roosting bald eagles.
“(Brainard speaking )‘A survey looking for bald eagle nests was undertaken and none were found on or near the site. Additionally, it was concluded.’ * gavel noise and remark from Mayor Ashley Harris* ‘Please, folks,’ (McKay speaking) ‘We should have a chance to respond to this incorrect data.’ (2nd Ward Councilman Randy Hurt speaking) ‘You are not allowed to respond, this is our turn for speaking.’ Excuse me. (McKay speaking again) ‘Yeah, well, tell the truth. Don't lie. Okay.’”
The council voted unanimously to sell the land to A Hana Illowa LLC for $270,000. Members of the public erupted in boos after the vote.
SOCIAL SERVICE ORDINANCE VETO
Before the land sale vote, the council discussed Mayor Harris’ veto of the recently passed social service ordinance, which establishes a regulatory framework for organizations that provide these safety-net services. The veto would remove the city manager's authority to approve licenses and give that power to the mayor.
Mayor Harris says the authority that would impact people’s daily lives should remain with elected officials who could be held accountable.
“When we have decisions like this up to the city manager it takes. It takes the level of accountability away from the citizens, and I don't agree with that,” Mayor Harris said. “The citizens cannot hold the city manager accountable. Like it's been stated he works for the council and that is not the direction we need to go. We need to be more transparent and we shouldn't look elected officials up here. We shouldn't look for any. Maybe scapegoat is the wrong word, but we should look for any way to not be held accountable by the people we serve. That's why the decision needs to be up to the mayor and or the city council. That is my explanation on that.”
During public comment, Illinois statehouse Representative Gregg Johnson of the 72nd District, which covers the Illinois side of the Quad Cities, spoke out against the ordinance. Representative Johnson says the ongoing federal cuts to food benefits and healthcare will impact the Quad Cities, and local nonprofits will suffer. He claims the ordinance will be an additional burden for these organizations.
“This is not just about regulation. It's about access, fairness and dignity,” Rep. Johnson said. “There are several provisions in your ordinance that raised serious legal and moral concerns for me and I have asked the Attorney General to look into these. The 1000 foot separation rule effectively ban shelters and drop in centers for most of Rock Island. A form of exclusionary zoning. Mandatory neighbor notification and comment periods invite bias and public hostility towards people experiencing homelessness.”
The East Moline Democrat continued saying anyone is one catastrophe away from homelessness, and the ordinance will hamper organizations from meeting community needs.
Following Representative Johnson was Project Now Executive Director Dwight Ford. Ford mentioned the city requesting to close the Lift NOW Center, an emergency shelter opened last year, earlier than discussed back in March, citing business owner complaints of seeing homeless people. Ford said the moratorium passed this summer and subsequent ordinance are burning bridges with social service organizations.
“[T]his city's vulnerable populations and concerned citizens including our faith community, has lost trust in this council,” Ford said. “We believe this ordinance was birthed out of pure animus, carried out with prejudice and ill will toward our agency and the people we serve. And I say that because there is no sense of pretending that this council has ever rendered aspirations of ending poverty in Rock island, which has 20% poverty and we have census tracts with over 30%. And those census tracts are in Ward 5 and Ward 1. And yet we have not even voiced our concern about ending the causes of poverty or homelessness in this city.”
Following public comment, during discussion of the veto, Fourth Ward Councilwoman Jenni Swanson says the 1,000 foot setback is acceptable, citing a similar restriction for sex predators.
“So that is why I am in favor of the thousand foot, simply because it protects our children. We are a walking school district, not a bus district. And so you have students walking all over town to get to school,” Councilwoman Swanson said. She also spoke in favor of the city manager retaining the license authority, as it would avoid any issues of political bias.
Seventh Ward Councilman Bill Healy, a downtown business owner of Bridge’s Catering and the Stern Center, says that since The Third Place QC, a daytime shelter offering services to unhoused people, opened, there has been an influx of people outside his business.
“I counted today, I left at 4:12. at work today. There was 21 people hanging outside,” Councilman Healy said. “There were five people sharing a bottle of vodka in the bus stop station. PD has had 19 phone calls just to the bus stop in the last 14 days. We don't have a homeless issue. We used to have a homeless issue. We have a homeless problem.” Councilman Healy continued saying he has seen a person checking cars to break into within his business parking lot.
Councilman Evans Sr. and Councilwoman Barnes voted in favor of the mayor’s veto, agreeing that the mayor should handle such authority. The veto failed with a vote of 5-2.
CRAWFORD COMPANY DEVELOPMENT
The city council voted unanimously to approve a development agreement with Crawford Company, which is seeking to build a metal machine shop at the former cattle auction barn that was burned down in February 2024. The development will create 20 jobs, with ten jobs being retained once the project is completed.
According to the city's council documents, the city will reimburse the developer $300,000. Before the vote, Third Ward Councilwoman Barnes asked for clarification about the funding. City staff remarked $200,000 is coming from unrestricted American Rescue Plan Act funding set aside for economic development, and $100,000 of the same ARPA funds is coming from a different source set aside for business assistance.
“I don't think that was clarified at all. I don’t see that clarified anywhere. So, again, going back to transparency, we need to be transparent when it comes to issues like that. Especially, two weeks ago with my no vote on the ARPA. So, like I said, it was not mentioned *council/staff discussion away from mic* in the memo. It just says $300,000 reimbursement will come from. And then there's nothing after that,” Councilwoman Barnes said.
The council voted unanimously to approve the development.
At the end of the meeting, Councilwoman Barnes said her no vote on some ARPA funding agreements from the October 13th meeting is because the council was not notified of these federal grant dollars being reallocated before the vote. She reiterated the need for consistency and transparency.
The Rock Island City Council meets next on Monday, November 10th.
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