Joliet City Council vacates old bridge, gets 2019 budget proposal

A bridge that needs $2 million in repairs won’t be the city’s worry anymore.

The Joliet City Council voted Tuesday to vacate the Old Richards Street bridge, which becomes the property of two businesses that don’t want it either but need to use it.

The fate of the bridge has been a pending issue for at least a year.

The council voted, 7-1, to vacate the bridge on the advice of staff who said it’s not worth maintaining for the sake of the two businesses that depend on it – one of which is inside the city limits and one that is not.

Councilman Michael Turk was the one no vote, suggesting that vacating the bridge could put the two small companies out of business.

Interim City Attorney Chris Regis said it will not.

“The city vacates the roadway. The roadway is still there,” Regis said. “No one’s going to tear it up tomorrow. We’re just not going to spend $2 million on a bridge.”

Geomat, a road construction business, and MPV Inc., an auto body shop that includes a used vehicle business called Auto Concepts, have sued Joliet over past maintenance of the bridge.

Attorneys for the companies had been to previous City Council meetings and were successful in getting a vote to vacate the bridge tabled when it was last considered in February. But no one from the companies appeared this time.

2019 budget

Interim City Manager Marty Shanahan delivered a proposed $282 million budget for 2019, which was received by the council without comment other than some discussion over when they will meet to review it.

Shanahan said the council could discuss the budget at its next meetings, which are Dec. 3 and 4, before voting on it Dec. 18 unless a special meeting is called.

The budget includes a balanced general fund, which covers most city operations, of $185.2 million.

The proposed general fund is slightly more than the $185.1 million that the city expects to spend by the end of this year. But estimated year-end spending is more than $5 million what the city budgeted for the fund this year, which was $179.7 million.

Other business

In other business:

• A zoning variation and special use permit were approved to allow 3C Compassionate Care Center to move its medical cannabis dispensary from the Rock Run Business Park into a vacant store outside the Louis Joliet Mall.

• An amendment to the annexation agreement for the Autobahn Country Club was approved, allowing the club to open its go-kart track to the public next year and also move ahead with a project to expand the track.