Joliet City Council approves legal settlement involving NorthPoint, CenterPoint

The Joliet City Council unanimously approved a settlement agreement on Friday to resolve litigation involving the city and two warehouse developers.

Michael Layden, an outside attorney for the city, spoke briefly about several aspects of the settlement at Friday’s special City Council meeting before it was approved.

The city had announced on Wednesday the council would vote on a settlement agreement regarding litigation involving CenterPoint Properties and its rival developer, NorthPoint Development.

But no further details were provided at the time.

“The agreement also provides for these parties to work with Joliet to hopefully reduce some of the impact of truck traffic that otherwise comes into the downtown area and other surrounding roads.”

—  Michael Layden, an attorney for the city of Joliet

The settlement cited a 2022 lawsuit filed in Will County by CenterPoint and Houbolt Road Extension JV against NorthPoint and the city. A 2024 federal lawsuit that NorthPoint filed against CenterPoint was also mentioned in the agreement.

Layden said the city will not have to pay for maintenance of roads and bridges that are part of the “closed-loop network” for the NorthPoint Development warehouse project.

“The City of Joliet shouldn’t be paying for that. As part of this agreement, the taxpayers will not be paying for that. That has been fixed and that was a looming multi-hundred-million dollar liability down the road,” Layden said.

Layden said the agreement prevents the “problems of trucks from NorthPoint going onto [Route 53], which is important.”

“The agreement also provides for these parties to work with Joliet to hopefully reduce some of the impact of truck traffic that otherwise comes into the downtown area and other surrounding roads,” Layden said.

Layden said the agreement would make a part of Millsdale Road a cul-de-sac. City officials said the cul-de-sac will be constructed on Millsdale Road, east of the Union Pacific Railroad

“No cars, no trucks. It’s a dead end. It is physically impossible. That will end, so the residents are not going to have to deal with cars, trucks or anything coming down that area on Millsdale Road,” Layden said.

NorthPoint Vice President Patrick Robinson did not respond to a call and email on Friday.

A law firm provided a statement on behalf of CenterPoint.

The statement said the settlement requires a regional traffic study to be conducted by NorthPoint and East Gate, one of the corporate names for NorthPoint. The study would be submitted to Joliet, Will County and CenterPoint.

“The agreement also clarifies the scope of NorthPoint’s industrial development to foster better overall planning and re-establishes the Houbolt Road Bridge as the long-term solution to reduce truck traffic on local roads,” CenterPoint’s statement said.

CenterPoint’s statement said the settlement will “serve the region well, protect public safety and preserve the multi-billion-dollar economic engine” the developer created for the county while “benefiting the community through job creation and tax revenue.”

During Friday’s meeting, Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy said the litigation has been “very intense” and “grueling” over the past 18 months, with “hours and hours of back and forth.” He disputed the settlement was “last minute.”

“And I believe we’ve come up, all of us, with the best solution to what we were dealt,” D’Arcy said.

The settlement received support from Councilwoman Suzanna Ibarra.

“This is my district and there’s no amount pressure that could ever be put on me that would make me vote for something that I didn’t think was absolutely the best thing for my district – for traffic, for all the surrounding areas,” Ibarra said.

During public comment, Jackson Township Supervisor Matt Robbins said his biggest problem was that residents had not seen any of the agreements before council approval.

“We don’t know if it’s good or bad for our community, which is Jackson Township, which encompasses Joliet residents. So I don’t know how we’re making a vote on something this quick,” Robbins said.

The approval of the settlement was supported by Tom White, executive director of Three Rivers Construction Alliance, and Patrick Young, a member of Will and Grundy Counties Building Trades Council.

“This has been a long time coming. It’s good to see that this is finally going to come to fruition. This is jobs for the trades men and women that live in Joliet,” Young said.

“We don’t know if it’s good or bad for our community, which is Jackson Township, which encompasses Joliet residents.”

—  Matt Robbins, Jackson Township supervisor

Michelle Peterson, of Jackson Township, questioned how anyone could support the settlement without having received any information on it.

“I don’t know how anybody can say vote yes, vote no, when there’s really no information to look at,” Peterson said.

During the meeting, D’Arcy had seen John Kieken, an opponent of the NorthPoint project, shaking his head.

“I see you shaking your head. I’m OK with that. You don’t trust us but let’s learn to do it,” D’Arcy said.

“You went back on your word,” Kieken said in response.

“I didn’t and we’ll talk about it later. That’s all I have to say,” D’Arcy said.

After the meeting, Kieken said his organization, Stop NorthPoint, is moving forward “full speed with our quality-of-life lawsuits.”

Kieken said the cul-de-sac mentioned as part of the settlement was also part of the original NorthPoint plan.

Kieken said the settlement doesn’t appear to show NorthPoint made any concessions other than the monetary amounts they’re required to pay CenterPoint.

“And those don’t seem to be substantial either,” Kieken said.