TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Jayne Bernhard, Planning Director
SUBJECT:
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Public Hearing for a Resolution Approving an Annexation Agreement for 23960 S. Houbolt Road (A-3-26)
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BACKGROUND:
The petitioner, LPC Acquisition Company, LLC, is requesting approval of the annexation, classification to the I-1 (light industrial) district, and approval of an annexation agreement for 23960 S. Houbolt Road to allow the development of an industrial warehouse facility. The I-1 district permits clean manufacturing, warehousing, and wholesaling activities. The proposed facility is a permitted use in the I-1 district.
The petitioner also requests approval of a Special Use Permit to allow development on a lot containing Cedar Creek watershed protection area because the northeast corner of the site contains a small portion of protection area due to an adjacent tributary of Cedar Creek. There is no development proposed in the Cedar Creek protection area.
The 74-acre subject site is located at the northwest corner of Houbolt Road and Millsdale Road and currently contains farmland and several agricultural buildings. The surrounding area is a mix of incorporated City of Joliet and unincorporated Will County. The adjacent uses are mainly industrial: to the east are warehouse and distribution centers within CenterPoint Intermodal Center at Joliet with I-TC (intermodal terminal - industrial park) zoning; to the south is an industrial warehouse with I-2 (general industrial) zoning; and to the west is the Stepan Company manufacturing plant, with County I-3 (intensive industrial) and A-1 (agricultural) zoning. The site is bordered on the north by a pipeline parcel; beyond that is a trucking terminal with I-1 (light industrial) zoning and a rural residential property with County A-1 (agricultural) zoning.
Houbolt Road in this area is an improved four-lane road. Most of Houbolt Road adjacent to the site was reconstructed around 2016 in conjunction with the buildout of the CenterPoint development to the east. In 2022, Houbolt Road north of the site was reconstructed into a four-lane road when the Houbolt Road Bridge was completed over the Des Plaines River to provide a connection between Interstate 80 and CenterPoint Intermodal Center. Millsdale Road south of the site is a private road that was vacated in 2010 at the time of annexation and development of the industrial site to the south. Currently, this section of Millsdale Road only serves the Stepan Company properties to the south and west. The subject site has a public utility, drainage, and access easement across its south side to accommodate the private road.
The conceptual site plan, which is Exhibit B of the annexation agreement, includes a 1,179,200-square-foot warehouse facility with dock doors on the east and west sides. There would be employee parking to the north of the building with approximately 460 car parking stalls. Trailer parking would be located across from the west, south, and east sides of the building, with around 460 trailer spaces. The facility would likely serve a single tenant. The site user has not been determined at this time.
At their meeting on September 17, 2026, the Zoning Board of Appeals approved a series of Variations for the site to allow trailer parking stalls on the south side of the building, to allow trailer parking stalls within 50 feet of a building corner, and to increase the maximum number of trailer parking stalls from 294 to 500 stalls. The Zoning Board also approved a Variation to waive the requirement for parkway trees along the Houbolt Road frontage because there is an existing gas line in the right-of-way next to the east property line.
The site would have a full access for trucks and a separate full access for cars on the north side off Houbolt Road. The middle of the site would have a 3/4 access for trucks but would not allow left turns into the site off northbound Houbolt Road. The site would have no access to Millsdale Road. The annexation agreement includes language that requires the developer to provide a left turn lane on Houbolt Road if the middle access were ever developed into a full access. The developer will need to provide a right-of-way dedication for Houbolt Road at the time of final engineering to ensure that there is enough right-of-way if future improvements to Houbolt Road were needed.
The petitioner had a traffic impact study completed for the proposed development. The traffic study states that the area roadway network has the capacity to accommodate the traffic generated from the site. The traffic study will be fully reviewed by staff with the final engineering plans for the site development.
In 2007, the City passed Ordinance #15820 (Zoning Ordinance section 47-15G) regarding the Cedar Creek, Sugar Creek, Jackson Creek, and Jackson Branch watershed protection areas. The ordinance requires that any development of a lot or parcel containing territory located in these protection areas receives approval of a Special Use Permit through the Plan Commission and City Council. A tributary of Cedar Creek touches the north property line of the subject site at its northeast corner. The protection area, defined as the area within 100 feet of the center thread of the tributary within the 100-year floodplain, extends onto the site at the northeast corner, to the north of a 50-foot pipeline easement that runs across the north of the parcel. There is no development proposed within the protection area or the easement area. The petitioner’s response to the criteria for a protection area Special Use Permit (Zoning Ordinance section 47-15G.4) is included in the Plan Commission staff report packet. The petitioner has adequately addressed the criteria, and the development will not detrimentally affect or destroy the natural features of the protection area, nor impair its natural functions. Drainage, soil erosion, and sediment control will be addressed in the engineering plans.
The associated annexation agreement allows the development of the site in a manner consistent with the conceptual site plan and addresses future road improvements to Houbolt Road if a full middle access were developed. The annexation agreement also states that the developer is not required to extend public sanitary sewer along Millsdale Road if, at the time of final engineering plans, the owner of the parcels directly west of the subject site does not object. Stepan Company is currently the owner of the subject site and the parcels to the west and is agreeable to this language. The subject site will contain a public utility easement if a future sanitary sewer extension were ever needed.
The development will be required to comply with the City’s Zoning Ordinance requirements, including but not limited to the landscape and screening regulations, the non-residential design standards, and the parking standards, except as otherwise approved through Variations. The site will be required to connect to City water and sewer at the time of development. Water and sewer connection fees and development impact fees will be required.
PLAN COMMISSION MEETING:
The Plan Commission reviewed this matter at their meeting on September 17, 2026. Nate Washburn, attorney with KGG, LLC, represented the petition. No one spoke in favor of or in opposition to the petition. Meeting minutes are attached.
RECOMMENDATION OF THE PLAN COMMISSION:
recommendation
Wendell Martin moved that the Plan Commission recommend approval of the annexation, classification to the I-1 (light industrial) district, and approval of an annexation agreement, located at 23960 S. Houbolt Road.
Michael F. Turk seconded the motion, which passed with six (6) aye votes and no nay votes. Voting aye were: Cox, Eulitz, Martin, Radakovich, Turk, and Hammac. Voting nay were: none. Absent were: Crompton and Leon.
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Staff concurs with the recommendation of the Plan Commission and recommends that the Mayor and City Council approve the following:
1. Resolution Approving an Annexation Agreement for 23960 S. Houbolt Road
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