ANDALUSIA, Illinois - The Rock Island County Zoning approved a special use permit for Ski Snowstar for a second time.
The Rock Island County Board sent it back to the county's zoning board to take a second look at the proposal.
Ski Snowstar wants to operate year-round and hold special events like weddings. Snowstar says it's too hard to keep up with maintenance year-round when there's not an income coming in year-round.
However, neighbors say if Snowstar wants to grow it's going about it in a dangerous way.
"There`s a lot of safety concerns with that road it truly is a single lane gravel road," said neighbor, Leslie Anthony.
So, they were surprised to hear more traffic could be coming to the roads in their neighborhood.
"These roads are not in any way shape or form designed nor capable carrying this amount of traffic," said Bradley Forret who lives in the neighborhood.
An additional 8,000 to 12,000 more vehicles are expected to be added to the traffic yearly. Despite Traffic concerns, Snowstar's attorney argues traffic will be lesser in their summer months than in its winter season.
"They do about 12 hundred individuals a weekend in the winter time and you're talking about a wedding reception where you have 100 to 200 people, we`re talking about less traffic," said attorney Doug Lindstrom.
Wednesday, October 4th, the Rock Island County Zoning Board of Appeals agreed with Snowstar, approving a special use permit for the second time.
"This is about us wanting to put safety first and really to keep somebody from being killed," said Anthony.
The proposal will go back to the Rock Island County Board again for approval. In the agreement, there will be a one-year trial period to see if there are traffic issues.