Orlando faces removal again from Joliet Plan Commission

Dominic Orlando, a city plan commissioner with a reputation for questioning warehouse projects, is about to be removed from the Joliet Plan Commission for a second time.

Mayor Terry D’Arcy is recommending that the City Council vote Tuesday to replace Orlando with Mike Eulitz, a former roadways engineer for the city and a onetime candidate for City Council.

The council will vote Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for the city said Orlando’s term is up. But commissioners frequently are reappointed.

Orlando’s removal comes at a time when he is among a few dozen plaintiffs in a lawsuit that names the city as a defendant and attempts to block NorthPoint Development’s controversial warehouse plans in Joliet.

Orlando’s position as a plaintiff in the lawsuit puts him in a partisan position against the city on a matter that at times comes to the commission for review.

Orlando in March was also the lone no vote on the Plan Commission when it recommended approval for the controversial Prairie Landing subdivision that is being built on land in which D’Arcy was a part-owner.

City spokeswoman Rosemaria DiBenedetto said Monday that Orlando’s term was up and the mayor chose not to reappoint him “in order to give others an opportunity to serve.”

Orlando could be reached Monday afternoon to comment on his likely removal from the commission.

The City Council typically approves mayoral recommendations for commission appointments.

Orlando previously was on the commission during former Mayor Bob O’Dekirk’s time in office. O’Dekirk removed him in 2019 when Orlando’s term expired, saying he wanted to give someone else a chance to serve in the position.

At the time, Orlando was notable for his willingness to question and vote against warehouse projects, including the NorthPoint plan, otherwise given approval by the Plan Commission.

D’Arcy put him back on the commission in June 2023, a month after taking office as mayor, saying Orlando “did his due diligence” on matters that came to the commission.

“He was the kind of a guy who would go and look at the site that was to be rezoned, and he would talk to neighbors,” D’Arcy said at the time.

Reporter Felix Sarver contributed to this story.