Joliet City Manager Says NorthPoint Project Moving Forward Despite Delay

This is the 2020 proposed Compass Business Park as an overlay on top of satellite imagery of the actual location. The borders of Compass are in red. It covers approximately 2900+ acres (~4.5 square miles) and is approximately 3.5 miles wide by 5 miles long. It is also more than 6 miles from any major expressway. (Image Credit to John Kieken, StopNorthPoint.com)

The Joliet City Council has officially delayed the annexation of 355 acres of land that NorthPoint Development needs to move forward with its Compass Business Park. On Monday a local taxing body came forward to state that the notification of the annexation was not properly done. In order to avoid any possible legal issues related to the annexation, Joliet City Manager Jim Hock asked that the Council delay the vote until their meeting on October 6th. Opponents to the project have stated that there were irregularities within the petition of annexation including possible forgery and notarization discrepancies. The notarization discrepancy deals with the fact that the official annexation petition is dated July 17th but the papers were officially notarized on July 16th. City Manager Hock however made it clear at Tuesday’s meeting that these discrepancies will have no impact on the possible annexation as the agreement between the city and NorthPoint is already completed and was done so at a public hearing earlier this year. Hock also stated that the city is legally obligated to move forward with annexation unless NorthPoint attempted to change the agreement between the two parties.

The project is still facing hurdles including a lawsuit from the village of Elwood and veteran groups, who recently sent a letter to the FAA stating the negative impact they believe the project could have on Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery. Again, the Joliet City Council will vote on this annexation at their October 6th regularly scheduled council meeting.