JOLIET – Mayor Bob O’Dekirk and a couple Joliet City Council members expressed some concern that they no longer had the final say-so in whether another truck stop will be built along Route 53.
There was some dispute over whether the Cadence Premier Logistics project planned for the corner of Emerald Drive should actually be called a truck stop.
But whatever it is to be called, the Zoning Board of Appeals gave the essential approvals for the retail operation at a meeting last month, City Attorney Martin Shanahan told the council at a workshop meeting Monday. The council, however, will still vote Tuesday on key parts of the plan.
“I’m not sure the council would have approved another truck stop,” O’Dekirk said.
Councilman Jim McFarland pointed to the potential of three truck stops at the Laraway Road intersection.
“To me, this is a fourth,” McFarland said. “I don’t know how we can say this is not going to attract trucks.”
“I don’t like to call it a truck stop,” said Cadence CEO Rocky Caylor, although he said the operation will be so defined by the state of Illinois for the purpose of video gambling machines that will be put into the facility.
“We don’t want to be in the truck stop business. That’s not what we do,” Caylor told the council.
Cadence wants to move its corporate headquarters, distribution operation and assembly plant from Alsip to Joliet. The project also includes a facility that will sell compressed natural gas and diesel fuel to trucks, along with a repair facility for trucks and a convenience store with video gambling.
Caylor said the facility will serve Cadence’s own fleet and other trucking operations in the area. He said he did not expect to pull customers off of Interstate 80.
The zoning board has final say on zoning variations, which were sought for video gaming and above-ground fuel storage needed for the compressed natural gas sales.
However, the council will vote Tuesday on a special use permit allowing for the truck maintenance operation and the sale of truck parts.
New Hawk dealerships
The council Tuesday also will vote on a special use permit sought by the Hawk Auto Group as part of its acquisition of Bill Jacobs dealerships in Joliet.
Hawk on Friday completed the acquisition of Bill Jacobs Chevrolet, Cadillac, Mazda and Subaru dealerships on Jefferson Street. Hawk wants a special use permit to sell Subaru vehicles at 2200 W. Jefferson St., the former site of an auto parts store.
Hawk already had moved cars onto the property Monday and hung a Hawk banner on the building. Subaru needed to be moved from a previous site, where it shared space with the Bill Jacobs Kia dealership that is being acquired by a different dealer.