March 28, 2024
Local News

NorthPoint plan clears first Joliet hurdle a second time

The NorthPoint project got a green light for a second time from the Joliet Plan Commission on Thursday.

The commission gave the project a 7-0 vote for approval after hearing five hours of comment from people opposed to the project.

The approval process for NorthPoint's plan for the Compass Global Logistics Hub has been restarted after opponents won a court order in October blocking annexations needed for the project.

The plan to annex and rezone land for a 1,360-acre industrial park next goes to the Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday and then to the City Council for final approval.

The Plan Commission hearing did not attract the numbers that a lawyer from the Stop NorthPoint group warned would turn it into a COVID-19 super-spreader event when the group unsuccessfully sought a court order to stop the meeting.

Only four people showed up at the hearing, although 31 took the option to phone-in their comments.

"What you are getting right now is a small piece of what there would be if we could all be there," said one caller while arguing that holding the hearing amid the COVID-19 pandemic deterred people from coming.

"Most Joliet residents do not want this project," said another caller.

Everyone who spoke at the hearing opposed the project, which faces widespread opposition from residents, neighboring communities, and veterans groups concerned about the impact on Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery.

Much of the opposition has come from people in neighboring Elwood and Manhattan as the 1,360 acre-project would spread to both towns.

"What it will do to neighboring communities is devastating," said Manhattan Township Supervisor Jim Walsh. "That is us: Manhattan and Elwood."

"For those of you on the commission who say not many Joliet residents are speaking out against NorthPoint, you are out of touch with the residents of Joliet," said John Sheridan, president of the Cunningham Neighborhood Council.

The project does enjoy strong support from building trades unions.

NorthPoint in its presentation said the project will bring 1,600 construction jobs and eventually 4,500 permanent jobs along with $17 million in annual property taxes when fully built out.

Tom George, director of development for NorthPoint, again made the case that the closed-loop plan for the project would bring relief to traffic problems on Route 53.

"It starts with one goal, and that goal is to get trucks off of Route 53," George said. "That has been the goal from day one."

The city altered its public hearing rules to allow the public to question NorthPoint representatives about the plan, which led to tense give-and-take at times.

"Do you contemplate the damage that you do to neighboring communities when you build a project of this size?" Elwood Village Attorney Jordan Kielian, who was at the hearing, asked George.

Bob Okon

Bob Okon

Bob Okon covers local government for The Herald-News