Plainfield Trustees Approve 'Project Jupiter' Facility Plan

PLAINFIELD, IL — Plainfield trustees gave the go-ahead for a warehouse development plan Monday night, despite the concerns of several residents. WLS-TV said the controversial plan for the warehouse and distribution center for wine and spirits producer Diageo was approved in a five to one vote. According to the news report, the company released a statement after the vote, saying, "We are very pleased with the outcome tonight and to be able to bring economic development to Plainfield. We are particularly proud that this project will be build on the 52-year-old partnership we have had with the village of Plainfield."

Diageo has a factory that sits 1.5 miles east of the proposed center, and the two sites would be connected by 143rd street, as WLS said the center would be built on what is now farmland near 143rd and Steiner Road.

Patch reported in August the proposal, also referred to as "Project Jupiter," would include parking for 408 passenger vehicles, 500 trailer parking stalls, 26 fleet tractors stalls, three docks and, according to a petition against the project, 900 semi-trucks going in and out per day, which concerns residents as 143rd street along residential areas and near schools.

Atlanta-based Seefried Industrial Properties, which has a Midwest regional office in Des Plaines, has a contract to purchase the farmland for the project, anticipating it could be completed by late 2019 or early 2020. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

A memo to the plan commission says a traffic study for the project projected 2,160 total trips, including 130 daily shuttle truck trips between the warehouse and manufacturing plant.

RELATED: Residents Balk At Massive 'Project Jupiter' Distribution Center

Patch reported an open house on the project was held Aug. 15, and most of the written feedback provided to the plan commission was negative, including:

• "This does not belong in Plainfield. It belongs where all the other distribution centers already are — with direct access to highways."
• "I moved 30 miles out to Plainfield to get my family away from the crazy city life where I grew up. I wanted a better life for my son but here we go again facing big issues with dangerous truck drivers and even worse traffic than we have ever seen."

Documents related to Project Jupiter are posted on the Village of Plainfield website.

Rendering via Village of Plainfield documents