Joliet OKs truck repairs on Rowell Avenue

A trucking operation was approved this week for a Rowell Avenue site amid a continued resistance to more industrial development in the southeast area of Joliet.

The truck parking and repair operation will go into a site already zoned industrial and last used by a waste hauler. Those factors were noted by supporters of the project who argued that the truck operation would be less of an issue than what could go on the site at 811 Rowell Ave.

Opponents pointed to one more trucking facility in a section of the city that they say needs service businesses, especially grocery stores.

“We are disappointed because we keep asking for improvement on our side of the city,” Betsy Satcher, president of the East Side Neighborhood Council told the City Council after its vote on Tuesday giving a green light to the trucking facility.

Satcher said residents in the area are “boxed into a little area” by truck and railroad operations “and it seems no one cares about us.”

She spoke after the council voted 7-1 for the special use permit needed for the truck parking and maintenance facility. The site is bordered by other industrial uses but also across the street from houses in an area where industry and residential living have co-existed for decades.

Satcher and others spoke against the project last month before the Zoning Board of Appeals recommended approval. Zoning board and council members said the proposed business operations are less disruptive than what could go into the site without any city review because of its its industrial zoning.

Pro Star Logistics plans to use the site to maintain its fleet of 15 trucks when they are not on the road.

Attorney Gary Davidson representing Pro Star said the company expects no more than one or two trucks a day at the facility.

“This is simply a parking and maintenance facility,” Davidson said. “It is not a terminal.”

Council Member Terry Morris, who represents the area, was the one vote against the Pro Star Logistics plan. But Morris did not make an argument against it on Tuesday or at a workshop meeting on Monday when the project also was discussed.

Satcher also was among people who unsuccessfully tried to block approval for the Kingsmen Industrial Park, which was approved by the council in September and will be developed on a portion of the property now occupied by Joliet Job Corps on Mills Road.

Opponents, however, were successful in their efforts to block a planned marijuana growing facility along Manhattan Road, which the council rejected in May.