Neighbors still concerned about warehouses at former Joliet Country Club

Neighbors of the former Joliet Country Club are raising concerns that plans to turn it into warehouses will move ahead.

Joliet officials, concerned about neighbors' reports about activity at the site, are sending a letter to caution owners that no site work can be done that requires a permit.

"I don't want to come in some morning and find out there are bulldozers out there digging [stuff] up – a Meigs Field sort of thing," interim City Manager Steve Jones said, referring to the overnight demolition in 2003 that marked the surprise demise of the single-strip airfield in Chicago.

Unlike Meigs Field, the Joliet Country Club already is closed, but the question is what's going to happen next with the property.

ROC Inc., the Lisle-based real estate company that owns the property, has approached the city about a warehouse park. But city officials have rejected the idea, and no official redevelopment proposal has been submitted.

The site would have to be rezoned for industrial use.

Neighbors, however, said they are suspicious because of trees being marked for removal, surveyors on the site and documents submitted to the city.

Megan Cooper, in a call-in comment to the City Council when it met Tuesday, said residents in the area "live with the fear of the unknown of what's happening next at the Joliet Country Club."

"Nothing's gong on," ROC's Doug Riccolo said Friday.

Riccolo would not comment on trees being marked at the site or other concerns raised by neighbors.

The owners did meet with city officials months ago to discuss a concept for an industrial park but were told Joliet was not interested in the proposal, Jones said. Since then, council members, too, have voiced opposition to warehouses at the former country club site.

ROC acquired the property when the Joliet Country Club already was in financial trouble. They converted the property to a public golf course last year but announced in February that the club would not reopen.

The owners also approached the Joliet Park District about a possible sale, but park officials were not willing to take on another golf course.