Joliet Logistics Park may get a bridge exemption

Joliet may give the developer of a Route 53 warehouse park an out if the NorthPoint bridge is not built by 2025.

The City Council on Tuesday will vote on an agreement to allow development to continue at the Joliet Logistics Park with a requirement that trucks tie into the future closed-loop road network planned by NorthPoint Development.

But the requirement will apply only if a NorthPoint bridge over Route 53, the key element of the closed loop, is built by 2025.

Acknowledging the possibility that the NorthPoint plan could be tied up in court by opponents, the agreement extends the deadline to 2026 if the the bridge is delayed by litigation.

The council two years ago turned down the plan to continue development of the Joliet Logistics Park as the city considered a moratorium on any plans that would pour more trucks onto Route 53.

City Manager James Capparelli at a council workshop meeting Monday summarized the proposed agreement with Joliet Logistics Park that will go to a vote Tuesday.

“This contemplates that these folks, when the closed-loop bridge is available, they will be able to use that bridge,” Capparelli said.

But councilwoman Jan Quillman noted a loophole on the bridge requirement.

“If it’s not built by 2025, they would not be obligated to use it in the future,” Quillman said.

A condition on the details of the agreement ensued in which City Attorney Sabrina Spano said the obligation would be extended for one year if bridge construction was held up by litigation.

There are three lawsuits in Will County Court seeking to either block the NorthPoint project altogether or stop the developer from building a bridge in Elwood.

NorthPoint, which is building a separate industrial park, has proposed as many as two bridges over Route 53 in what it calls a closed-loop road network that would get trucks onto interstates without using Route 53 and local roads.

Both the NorthPoint and Joliet Logistics Park plans have faced opposition from residents and public officials who contend they will add more truck congestion to the area.

NorthPoint, meanwhile, is going to the Joliet Plan Commission on Thursday for preliminary approval of a plan to develop the first 532 acres of its proposed 2,300-acre industrial park.

The Northpoint land, like the Joliet Logistics Park, is located at Route 53 and Millsdale Road. The NorthPoint land is on the west side of Route 53. The Joliet Logistics Park is on the east side of the highway,

NorthPoint has proposed a bridge in that area.