HILLCREST — At its monthly meeting Wednesday, the Hillcrest Village Board of Trustees held a public hearing for and unanimously approved a new solar panel ordinance.

At recent meetings, Village Building Inspector Casper Manheim asked the board to soon consider the adoption of a solar ordinance to have a fee structure in place for residents and companies that install solar panels within village limits.

The new ordinance will see Hillcrest be able to charge permit fees for small residential solar operations all the way up to large solar fields.

"This is a pretty comprehensive solar ordinance," Village Attorney Paul Chadwick said. "I think it addresses both the residential use and solar farms."

A large solar farm is planned to locate within village limits off Twombly Road in the future, but will not be subject to the new ordinance due to it already receiving approval.

Engineering

Village Engineer Kaitlin Wright of Baxter & Woodman presented an engineering update to the board on Wednesday. Wright said the village's priority 1A water main project that was previously scheduled to start June 3 has seen delays due to the contractor having scheduling issues. The wet spring has pushed back other projects that contractor Elliott & Wood, Inc. has on its plate, and it's still procuring materials for the priority 1A water main project.

Wright said that Hillcrest's project doesn't have a new start date set yet, but she plans to update the board when she knows more.

The project has a $1.2 million total budget and plans to replace mains along the full length of Scott Avenue, parts of Errett Road and Erickson Road from Scott Avenue to Jeffrey Avenue, and parts of Jeffrey Avenue from Errett Road to Erickson Road. Those streets are in the southern and oldest part of the village. The project will be financed with an IEPA loan that will involve 50 percent loan forgiveness. The debt service on the project will be $35,000 per year over 20 years.

Sealcoating of streets in Hillcrest has also been delayed due to weather and exact date for the work has not been set. Wright estimated the work to be a month away. The program this year will include Errett Road, Rosalind Road, Erickson Road, Powers Road, and Linda Avenue.

Work is also ongoing in the village on a state-mandated lead service line inventory project. Residents were sent a survey recently. The village must submit an inventory and replacement plan to the state by Sept. 1. Residents have been asked to check their own water lines and provide information to the village. If residents do not respond to the survey, the village would send staff to check the water lines to see what material they're made up of.

Hillcrest has 444 water service lines that it must check to see if they're possibly made of lead. Wright said about 50 percent of the village's line have been confirmed not to be lead and the other half is unknown at this time. The village has seen one report of a lead service line which it is working to confirm.

Patrols

The board again tabled a potential intergovernmental agreement with the Ogle County Sheriff's Office that would see dedicated patrols in Hillcrest by Ogle County deputies. No vote was taken due to the village waiting for feedback from the sheriff's office and a review of the potential agreement by the Ogle County State's Attorney's Office.

Sheriff Brian VanVickle attended Hillcrest's March meeting regarding a potential agreement and the proposal would see the village pay deputies $80 an hour which would be the only cost to Hillcrest, besides paying deputies for their time in court on Hillcrest patrol-specific cases.

Deputies would be working around 10 hours per week on dedicated patrols to start and they would be in two-hour blocks at varying times. Deputies will work the hours on an overtime basis before or after their regular county patrols.

UTVs

The board discussed the idea of a potential UTV (non-highway vehicle) ordinance as it has many times in years’ past. Hillcrest does have an ordinance pertaining to golf carts, but does not have anything on its books for UTVs. The vehicles are currently not allowed in the village, but trustees said Wednesday that they're still seen on local streets often.

Trustees expressed a desire Wednesday for Chadwick to look at the UTV ordinances of the City of Rochelle and Ogle County for source material for a potential Hillcrest ordinance in the future.