Anti-NorthPoint Group Plans Town Hall In Manhattan

MANHATTAN, IL — Activists from the Just Say No To NorthPoint group will hold a town hall in Manhattan and give a presentation about the project, organizers said. The village of Manhattan recently shared NorthPoint has once again expressed an interest in annexing to Manhattan. NorthPoint has also already filed a pre-annexation agreement with the city of Joliet.

Just Say To NorthPoint, as well as community liaison Erin Gallagher, will host the town hall for residents in Manhattan, Elwood, Joliet, Cherry Hill, New Lenox and Peotone. The town hall will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 10 at Wilson Creek Elementary School, 25440 S. Gougar Road, Manhattan.

The town hall meeting will also be child-friendly, with coloring activities available.

“Words like ‘it’s a done deal,’ and ‘it’s coming anyway’ are mere scare tactics NorthPoint uses to pit communities against each other to force council members to vote in their favor,” Say No To NorthPoint founder Delilah LeGrett said in a release. “Since most of the land in the warehousing footprint has not actually sold, but remains in contract on the condition of rezoning is proof positive that even NorthPoint doesn’t believe it’s a ‘done deal.’”

Organizers said NorthPoint has asked the city of Joliet to commit to annexation and zoning as early as March 17 without providing any detailed plans or plat. If approved, this would force Joliet to approve whatever NorthPoint decides to do.

“This comes as no surprise to those of us familiar with NorthPoint’s fan dance,” Gallagher said in a release. “NorthPoint teases with only partial information, like we saw in Elwood, and they saw in Kansas.”

NorthPoint is a Kansas City-based company and has a development there as well.