Proposed intermodal district concerns Elwood officials

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Updated: April 1, 2012 8:03AM

ELWOOD — Planning and Zoning Commissioner Floyd Garrett is alarmed about what he termed the state’s plan “to take over Elwood.”

Speaking during public comment at a Elwood Village Board meeting, Garrett was referring to the proposed creation of an intermodal development district that would stretch from Hoff Road on the south to Laraway Road on the north. The proposal would engulf the village, he said, leaving Elwood a town “in name only.”

Village President Bill Offerman concurred: “I agree — and we’re working on it.”

After the meeting, Garrett said he learned of the proposed development district through information provided to the planning and zoning commission. “They will take over the village of Elwood in the process,” he said.

The development district as proposed would encompass CenterPoint Properties’ Joliet and Elwood intermodal centers.

“It is not acceptable to the village of Elwood in its present form,” Offerman said.

The toll transportation district “would essentially take over the village’s main economic generator,” Offerman wrote in a position paper in late August.

“If this is done by the state now, will they attempt to take over all successful municipal assets?” Offerman went on to ask.

The position paper identified strong objections, including: the creation of another taxing district as an additional burden that would inhibit economic development; objection to a single commercial fee not based on road design or use; cost of creating another police and public works department when the intermodal is already serviced by the state police, secretary of state police, Will County deputies, Elwood police, Joliet police, BNSF security and Union Pacific security.

“Elwood fails to see how setting up toll booths alleviates congestion,” the paper says. “How is it that the proposed transportation district will deal with environmental concerns better than local government?”