Will County Gazette

Joliet city officials dealt with a request for annexation for some large parcels of land along Manhattan Road connecting to the current city limits at its April 18 meeting.

The controversy behind this otherwise normal request is because of the owner of the parcels: Northpoint. Northpoint is planning a warehouse and distribution project that would encompass over 2,000 acres of land, according to the developer's plan – some within Joliet. This Compass Business Park has been in the works for a long time, and had vehement opposition for the same duration. 

“I feel that we, the city council, had set standards when we first started to allow Northpoint to move into the Joliet area and that we had said that we would bring this back to planning and zoning if necessary,” councilman Pat Mudron said. 

During the public comment period, Rob Adamski, a trustee from the neighboring village of Manhattan, spoke. Adamski said Northpoint’s proposal involves an adjoining 1,200 acres there. Adamski read a statement from the Manhattan mayor and board of trustees asking the council to delay any decisions on the development until further impact studies can be done. 

More infrastructure and industry is needed in the area, from Manhattan’s standpoint, Adamski said, but the village leaders did not feel that this project would be the right choice for the broader community. He asked the Joliet City Council to consider the amount of concerned and knowledgeable citizens who have addressed the council on this matter. 

Other residents followed up with their concerns as well, including the lack of notice of this annexation and the decision made in the middle of the council election.

Councilwoman Bettye Gavin made a motion to table the vote until the June 6 meeting, when a new mayor and council members would be seated, but Mayor Bob O’Dekirk broke the 4-4 tie and voted against tabling the measure. The majority of the council agreed that they needed to treat the annexation as a routine request regardless of who owned the property, and that Northpoint could not change the zoning from its current agricultural designation without appearing before the zoning board. Other council members felt the annexation process had not been fully transparent, however the annexation was approved with another 5-4 vote with the mayor’s vote as a tiebreaker.

“Now we're going against what we told the public we would do,” Mudron said. “I have no problem believing that legally we could do this, but the perception is not right for me.”