Stalled industrial plans being made by NorthPoint Development and CenterPoint Properties are back on the Joliet City Council agenda Tuesday.
The council in November tabled votes on both projects, with Mayor Terry D’Arcy saying that he wanted to get a better grasp of the long-term effects the controversial NorthPoint project will have on Joliet.
D’Arcy could not be reached for comment on the upcoming vote.
Interim City Attorney Chris Regis said the council will be voting on the same plans brought to them in November.
“Nothing’s changed – at least as far as I know,” Regis said.
A lawsuit involving NorthPoint, CenterPoint and the city also remains pending.
“It is ongoing,” Regis said. “Nothing’s changed on that.”
Warehouse development in Joliet has grown increasingly controversial, and no project has drawn more attention than NorthPoint’s plan for a massive industrial park stretching from Joliet to Elwood.
The NorthPoint project borders the CenterPoint Intermodal Center developed by CenterPoint. CenterPoint is suing both NorthPoint and Joliet, contending that the city violated past agreements by approving a NorthPoint plan that depends on the use of roads developed by CenterPoint for its industrial park.
The lawsuit, the rivalry between the two developers, and the residential opposition to the NorthPoint plan go far beyond what is on the agenda for Tuesday.
NorthPoint, which is just getting started on an industrial park that eventually could grow beyond 2,000 acres, seeks city approval for a 17-acre annexation near Noel Road for the development of a cold storage warehouse.
CenterPoint wants council approval of a zoning change it needs for the development of an intermodal terminal planned for 4001 Brandon Road.
Longtime NorthPoint opponents in November cheered the council’s decision to put the annexation on hold until January.
