Joliet will use eminent domain to help NorthPoint

Joliet will try to use its eminent domain power to help NorthPoint Development get land for its massive warehouse project amid complaints that the city is going too far to accommodate the developer.

Adding to the intrigue is that the targeted property is owned by CenterPoint Properties, a rival developer that is in court trying to block the NorthPoint project.

Essentially, the city would be using its power to seize property for the public good in a way that would benefit one private developer over its competitor and advance a project that faces intense public opposition.

“Eminent domain should be used sparingly and only for the benefit of the public,” state Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, told the City Council before it voted on the eminent domain measure Tuesday;

Ventura said the city would set a “dangerous precedent” if it is successful in seizing land to benefit a project that has faced public opposition for years.

“When is enough enough?” she said.

The council voted 6-2 to approve eminent domain proceedings on behalf of NorthPoint. Council members Cesar Guerrero and Suzanna Ibarra voted no. Larry Hug was absent.

Mayor Terry D’Arcy said the city is obligated to pursue eminent domain by the terms of an annexation agreement in place before he became mayor in 2023.

“It’s a legal document that we’re bound to,” D’Arcy said. “We have to follow legal documents, whether they are from the previous administration or the current.”

Jackson Township Supervisor Matt Robbins, an opponent of the NorthPoint project, said the city has been willing to work around the annexation agreement for the benefit of NorthPoint.

“The annexation agreement wasn’t followed from the beginning,” Robbins said. “Why start now?”

The city this year joined NorthPoint in seeking state approval for access to Route 53 for the first warehouses built by the developer in a project that eventually could stretch over 2,000 acres.

The state approved temporary access, although the NorthPoint annexation agreement with Joliet requires that a bridge be built over Route 53 to avoid additional truck traffic on the highway.

The eminent domain action approved by the City Council this week is aimed at acquiring land for a bridge over Union Pacific railroad tracks.

The proposed bridge over the railroad tracks, along with the Route 53 bridge, is needed to eventually provide a path from NorthPoint warehouses to Interstates 80 and 55 to bypass Route 53.

Conceivably, the public would benefit from a city seizure of land by creating a truck route bypassing Route 53.

The city will have to take its case to court and get approval from a judge for eminent domain needed for the railroad bridge.

A growing number of trucks on Route 53 is a public issue, and NorthPoint contends that its warehouse plan is designed to avoid using the highway.

NorthPoint, however, would need access to the road network in the CenterPoint Intermodal Park.

CenterPoint has filed a lawsuit to block warehouses developed by NorthPoint from using its roads, contending that the additional truck traffic would overload the roads and violate CenterPoint’s own agreement with the city of Joliet.

Despite the ongoing controversy over NorthPoint’s plans, which includes citizen lawsuits aimed at stopping the project, the City Council agenda item on the eminent domain action gave no mention of NorthPoint.

Marge Cepon, a NorthPoint opponent, said the agenda was disguised in language aimed at keeping opponents unaware of what was about to happen.

“This wasn’t a fair fight,” Cepon said, adding that she first learned the city was planning to take action to benefit NorthPoint this week. “There’s no way that anyone who didn’t have prior knowledge about the project could know that this was about NorthPoint.”