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Beloit Town Board won't buy flooded vacation homes

BELOIT TOWNSHIP — The town of Beloit will not participate in a county plan to buy and raze substantially damaged secondary homes in the floodway outside of the cities of Janesville and Beloit.

The board voted Monday night and became the last of five towns, including Milton, Fulton, Janesville and Rock, to vote on the county plan.

Only the town of Rock agreed to pay to cover the local requirement to land a Hazard Mitigation Grant to buy and tear down houses that have been so damaged by flooding repairs would cost more than half the assessed value of the houses.

For some of the substantially damaged houses in the five townships, the county will apply for a Community Development Block Grant to pay the 12.5 percent local match required to land the Hazard Mitigation Grant. The rest of the money will come from state and federal matches.

But the block grant money may not be used to buy and raze secondary homes such as vacation homes. The county asked the five towns to kick in that money.

County planning staff have identified up to 80 houses in the five townships that could be substantially damaged and located in the floodway—the portion of the river that holds moving water during a flood. Of the 80, the primary homes would qualify to be bought and town down.

Nothing may be built on the lots ever again.