Joliet hears from 38 on NorthPoint, 260 more to go

The public hearing on the NorthPoint project went on Monday despite coronavirus, public opposition, and a failed last-minute motion for a court order to stop the Joliet City Council meeting.

The phone-in system set up by Joliet to hold a public hearing while keeping the public out of City Hall appeared to go smoothly with caller after caller getting through and having their say – nearly all of it anti-NorthPoint before the council adjourned to continue the hearing to 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The council after more than three hours heard from 38 callers, all but four of which were against the project.

There were 298 on the list, Mayor Bob O'Dekirk said.

"A traditional public hearing would be light years easier than what we are doing here," O'Dekirk said, disputing accusations that he said characterized city officials as being "cowardly" for holding the hearing under remote conditions.

The council will resume the public hearing at 9 a.m. but plans to stop at 11:30 a.m. and then continue the hearing from 3 to 5 p.m. It was not clear when the council may vote.

NorthPoint Developments wants Joliet to approve a pre-annexation agreement for 1,260 acres to be used for a future Compass Business Park that would stretch from the south end of Joliet to Elwood and Manhattan.

O'Dekirk said the hearing needed to be held in a remote format under COVID-19 conditions that made it unknown when it could be held in traditional fashion.

"The reality is we have no idea, and I believe a thinking person would admit that's not going to happen by June 1. It may not happen for the rest of the year."

Most of the callers appeared to prefer it would never have happened.

"This whole project should be shut down immediately," said Kathleen Bernhard of Elwood. "Be a good neighbor and say no."

The mayor's count of 298 people registered to speak may be high, since there were some duplicate registrations, city officials said. While 38 people spoke, about a dozen more either did not pick up the phone when called for their turn to comment or decided against speaking,

The vast majority of callers identified themselves as living outside of Joliet, which some of them talked about.

"Even though we can't vote for you we're still the public," said one woman who said she lived in the Sugar Creek subdivision in unincorporated Joliet Township.

The Compass Business Park would lie in a section of Joliet where few Joliet residents live but would have an impact on the smaller towns and rural areas that have shown fierce opposition to the development.

One Manhattan woman said she did not understand how the Joliet City Council "can make a decision for three towns."

Among the few speaking for the project was Doc Gregory, president of the Will & Grundy Counties Building Trades Council.

Gregory pointed to the Louis Joliet Mall, Hollywood Casino and Chicagoland Speedway. He said they all started with Joliet annexations despite nearby residents being "fiercely" against them.

"The city of Joliet has always been a city of opportunity," Gregory said. "The Compass Business Park is a well thought-out project that should be annexed into the city of Joliet."

Opponents of the project on Monday afternoon went to court for a temporary restraining order seeking to stop the public hearing on grounds that it violated state law for public meetings. But a Will County judge ruled against them.

The mayor's count of 298 people registered to speak may be high, since there were some duplicate registrations, city officials said. While 38 people spoke, about a dozen more either did not pick up the phone when called for their turn to comment or decided against speaking,