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The Joliet City Council will hold a special meeting Friday for a vote on a legal settlement in disputes over the NorthPoint Development warehouse project.
The meeting will be at 9 a.m. in the council chambers at City Hall.
The city announced the meeting and posted the agenda Wednesday morning but provided no explanation on what the settlement entails.
The agenda includes two items.
The settlement would involve the city of Joliet, CenterPoint Properties, NorthPoint Development and Houbolt Road Extension JV, the partnership that operates the Houbolt Road bridge, as well as other parties, “relating to the construction of the NorthPoint Development,” according to the agenda item.
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It apparently involves a change in the intergovernmental agreement with CenterPoint Properties over the Houbolt Road toll bridge.
The agenda includes an amendment on the bridge agreement, which includes Joliet, Will County and the Illinois Department of Transportation.
A settlement could unravel legal entanglements that have stymied NorthPoint’s plans to develop more than 2,000 acres stretching from Joliet to Elwood for warehouse construction.
The NorthPoint project has faced intense residential opposition and objections from neighboring municipal officials in Elwood and Manhattan.
City officials on Wednesday would not provide details on the settlement.
The settlement involves a lawsuit brought by Houbolt Road Extension JV in 2022 contending that a city annexation agreement opening the way for NorthPoint Development’s warehouse plans violated the agreement that set terms for the construction of the bridge.
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The bridge opened in April 2023.
CenterPoint Properties, a partner with United Bridge Partners in the joint venture that built and operates the bridge, also is the developer of the CenterPoint Intermodal Center industrial park in Joliet and Elwood.
Lawyers for CenterPoint contended that, among other things, the NorthPoint agreement with the city gave the rival developer access to CenterPoint roads and violated prior agreements with the city.
NorthPoint wants to develop more than 2,000 acres of land for warehouses, and the plan depends on access to CenterPoint roads and the Houbolt Road bridge.