Rt. 53 warehouse controversy rises again in Joliet

An unofficial Joliet moratorium on warehouse development along Route 53 is being tested.

The moratorium was declared by some City Council members in early 2020 after approving NorthPoint Development’s plan for a “closed-loop” industrial park that would be designed to limit truck traffic on Route 53.

One of the first test cases was the Joliet Logistics Park, which was turned down in May 2020 in a bid to renew an expired plat and continue warehouse development on 298 acres at Route 53 and Millsdale Road.

But the developer is trying again and cleared a hurdle Thursday when it received a Plan Commission recommendation in a 5-3 vote to continue warehouse development at Joliet Logistics Park. The proposal will go to the City Council for a final vote in November.

The Plan Commission hearing on the project showed again the sore spot that Route 53 has become as residents in the area and officials in neighboring communities try to resist the ongoing construction of warehouses on land in Joliet or annexed into the city.

“We feel it is irresponsible and reckless to put even more warehouses on 53,” said Matt Robbins, a member of the Jackson Township Board of Trustees.

Robbins, also a critic of the NorthPoint plan, said neighboring communities are being ignored as Joliet approves warehouse projects that impact them.

“As an elected official, it’s getting very frustrating,” he said. “There’s no cooperation, no communication on these projects affecting our township.”

The Joliet Logistics Park plan comes back as the NorthPoint project has stagnated over the past year, largely because the village of Elwood has been waging a legal fight against the bridge that the developer wants to build to create the closed-loop system it promises to build.

NorthPoint recently submitted applications to Joliet to add about 400 more acres to its proposed Compass Global Logistics Hub, and a city official said the additional land could make it possible for the developer to build a bridge at an alternative site in Joliet.

The city put a bridge requirement in the annexation agreement with NorthPoint, and council members suggested there should be no more Route 53 warehouse development outside the closed-loop system.

The additional NorthPoint land includes the Smith Farm at Route 53 and Breen Road, which was acquired from a previous developer that faced opposition in 2017 for its warehouse plan for the site.

“The people of Joliet and the people of Will County are tired of warehouses,” Will County Board Member Robin Ventura told the Plan Commission. “It’s wearing our houses to the ground.”

Ventura urged the commission to pursue residential development of the Joliet Logistics Park site.

But attorney Nathianel Washburn, representing the developer, noted the site is zoned industrial, the preliminary plat for warehouse development was approved in 2007, and one warehouse has already been built.

When commission Chairman John Dillon asked him about the council vote against the project in 2020, Washburn suggested there could be a different outcome this time.

“Time goes by,” he said. “Attitudes change.”

Comments made at the Plan Commission hearing indicate opposition against warehouse development along Route 53 remains strong among those who live in the area.

Lee Ecker, who owns a car repair business on one corner of Route 53 and Millsdale, has put up barrel barriers to keep trucks from using his parking lot as a turnaround as they try to get onto Millsdale Road.

The road west of Route 53 is posted for no trucks, but semitrailers use it anyway. Several semitrailers used the road on Friday afternoon as Ecker talked about the problem.

“All these bent signs are from the trucks hitting them,” Ecker said as he pointed to the signs posted to keep trucks off Millsdale.

People living in houses down the road “come out and yell” at the truckers, and the truckers argue with them about whether they should be on the road, Ecker said.

“It’s like the Wild West,” he said.