Jones Neutral On NorthPoint Until Last Week's Trip

JOLIET, IL — Interim city manager Steve Jones wasn't sure what to expect when he left Joliet last week for a first-hand look at NorthPoint's 1,700-acre distribution and warehouse development in Kansas that's called Logistics Park Kansas City.

After being turned down by Elwood amid fierce opposition from local residents in 2018, NorthPoint now wants to build its Compass Business Park with the city of Joliet's support.

Based on what he saw last week, NorthPoint could become a great asset for the city of Joliet, Jones told Joliet Patch during a Friday afternoon interview at City Hall. A few days earlier, Jones traveled to Kansas along with city council members Pat Mudron and Sherri Reardon.

"I went into this pretty neutral," Jones told Joliet Patch on Friday. "And I came away very positive. I would challenge anyone to go down to Kansas City. That's what we did."

Several other city officials and council members plan to make the out of state trips to tour the NorthPoint development over the next couple weeks including Mayor Bob O'Dekirk.

The city of Joliet is funding the trips, not NorthPoint, Jones emphasized.

"This is our research," Jones stressed.

Jones told Patch that the opponents of NorthPoint have been claiming that "this is going to create a massive influx of trucks and that's not true, with the closed loop.

"With the client base of NorthPoint, they will bring top name entities here. And I would expect it will be offices and manufacturing built into this park."

The city of Joliet has negotiated that NorthPoint build a bridge from their business park over Route 53 into Centerpoint Intermodal Park, a closed loop route for truck traffic.

Last week, Jones said he met with several elected officials and public officials from Kansas who represent the communities that were impacted by the creation of Logistics Park Kansas City.

Jones said they have great things to say about NorthPoint and what it's generated in terms of economic growth and new jobs for their region, particularly for Edgerton, Kansas.

"It was kind of eye-opening, and seeing it is the important thing," Jones said. "We tend to think of industrial parks as distribution centers but the fact is, housing is being constructed" on adjacent land.

Jones said he spoke with several workers at the Logistics Park Kansas City, particularly people employed at Kubota Tractor Corp.

He wanted to know about their wages and quality of life issues.

"They didn't look at this as warehouse per se, but an opportunity," Jones said, adding that the Kubota employees in particular talked about having "great benefits" and lot of job training opportunities.

Logistics Park Kansas City also looks nice, Jones said.

There's areas for employees to gather and eat, "very attractive berms and landscaping," Jones said.

NorthPoint also designed Logistics Park to incorporate plenty of open space into the 1,700-acre business park, he added.

"You're just left with a feeling that this is a planned community," Jones said. "With the housing next to the park, that shows there's not a diminished quality of life. The fact that housing is being constructed ... people are coming."

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Last Monday, Feb. 24, the city of Joliet Planning Commission voted unanimously, 8-0, to support the annexation of roughly 1,300 acres, which will likely become the future Compass Business Park proposed by NorthPoint.

Illinois Congressman Bobby Rush has already come out in strong support of NorthPoint, and Rush has implored the Joliet City Council to approve the project.

It's entirely possible the NorthPoint development will come up for discussion at the Joliet City Council meeting on March 17, Jones told Patch.