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An attorney for CenterPoint Properties joined residents Thursday in speaking out against NorthPoint Development’s planned industrial park in Joliet.
The result was the same however.
The Joliet Plan Commission, which like the City Council has so far always been favorable for the NorthPoint project, voted 6-0 to approve plats needed to begin construction.
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The plats next go to the City Council on May 17 for a vote.
“Should we be so fortunate to get that approved, we’ll start this summer,” Patrick Robinson, vice president for development at NorthPoint, said after the vote.
Actual construction would be a landmark moment for the controversial project that has faced intense residential opposition since it was first proposed in Elwood in 2017.
Elwood rejected the project after hundreds appeared at public hearings to show opposition.
NorthPoint then took the plan to Joliet, which has been more hospitable.
The city in December approved an annexation agreement for 2,300 acres of future NorthPoint development largely for warehousing. The plats presented to the Plan Commission on Thursday were for the first 532 acres of that project in an area west of Route 53 and south of Millsdale Road.
The appearance of Chris Spesia, an attorney for CenterPoint Properties, raised the prospect of a rival developer going to court to fight the NorthPoint plan.
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NorthPoint already faces lawsuits from grassroots groups who contend the project will prove to be a hazard to the people who live near it.
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Some future neighbors of the first phase of NorthPoint project asked the Plan Commission on Thursday whether the developer was willing to buy their houses.
“Some of us may want to leave the area because we don’t want to look at walls of concrete,” Donna Rosendale said.
William Bohne, a civil engineer with Jacob Hefner and Associates working for NorthPoint, said the plan includes buffers that exceed the mandated 60 feet.
“In all cases we’re well over 60 feet‚” Bohne said, “and in many cases we’re hundreds of feet before you see any pavement or building.”