Joliet puts Berlinsky plan, Kingsmen Industrial Park on hold

A plan to convert the Berlinsky Scrap Corp. scrapyard into a trucking operation was put on hold Tuesday.

The Berlinsky project was one of two plans tabled by the Joliet City Council amid community opposition.

The other was a light industrial park proposed for the former site of Joliet East High School and to be called Kingsmen Industrial Park.

Several neighbors spoke out against both projects.

Several neighbors of the scrapyard urged the council to eventually reject the plan for the trucking operation.

“It will increase our traffic, and I don’t believe our kids will be safe playing outside,” one Benton Street resident said in Spanish with her comments being translated by Alicia Morales.

Morales, who is the Joliet Township clerk and whose mother lives in the area, spoke Tuesday and Monday against the project on behalf of residents.

“Our existing buffer zone is less than 600 feet, and the recommended buffer zone for logistics facilities and adjacent residential and schools is 1,500 feet,” Morales told the council.

Berlinsky Scrap is a roughly 100-year old business that is has operated close to houses in an older part of the city for decades.

A lawyer for American Property Investments, which wants to buy the property, has said that the trucking operation would primarily be a parking facility for semitrailers and an improvement over the scrapyard because the property would be improved with landscaping and drainage.

It was American Property Investments, however, who asked that its request for a special use permit be tabled, City Clerk Christa Desiderio said.

Ryan Hill, the developer for the Kingsmen Industrial Park initially wanted to move ahead with a vote on his plan. But Mayor Bob O’Dekirk and council members Cesar Guerrero and Joe Clement suggested that it be tabled until September so the developer could meet again with neighbors and explain the plan.

Residents said they wanted to see affordable housing and not more warehouses in the area.

“We don’t want industrial developments in our neighborhoods,” Harriet Walker said.

Hill said he plans to develop the area for union construction contractors that need smaller lots to set up shops and said they would bring jobs to the area.

“I would argue that not only is it compatible but it enhances the area,” Hill said.