With demolition work expected to wrap up this summer on the former Will County Courthouse in Joliet, the Will County Board voted Thursday to designate the site as a park.
“We want to make sure it’s not plain green space, but it is usable to the community as a whole and is safe,” said board member Janet Diaz, the chair of the ad hoc old courthouse committee. “We want it to be used and beloved by the community.”
Committee members have ideas for they would like to see on the former courthouse site, 14 W. Jefferson St., which contains about a dozen plaques and monuments. Many of the displays have been dedicated to Will County veterans and law enforcement.
The committee wants it to be a pleasant space for the community to gather when visiting downtown Joliet, the county’s seat. Diaz, a Democrat from Joliet, and other board members said it’s important to the community that the site doesn’t simply generate weeds.
“We either do some landscaping and we control what grows there, or Mother Nature finds a way,” said board member Julie Berkowicz, a Republican from Naperville. “We have a choice here. We can make it a friendly environment or we can pave it over and all the problems go away.”
The site could be used for office space for the county and city of Joliet, but that plan is years away.
Statues and monuments remain around the footprint of the former Will County Courthouse in downtown Joliet. (Michelle Mullins for Daily Southtown)
In the meantime, the courthouse committee members want to explore adding lights, a decorative fence, benches, flowers and trees, Diaz said. A fence that could be locked at night would be important, Diaz said, noting the MorningStar Mission homeless shelter is blocks away.
“Do we want people using (the courthouse site) as a homeless encampment?” Diaz said. “I vote no to that, which is why this is very important to me as it is in my district.”
The park site could be used for events, such as food trucks and farmers markets, Diaz said. The site could also be used by city and county workers for lunch during nice days, she said.
After demolition work is complete, the land will be seeded with grass under the plan.
The committee would like to see a variety of price points for various park amenities.
Board Chair Judy Ogalla, a Republican from Monee, said the board could fund upgrades as possible once the demolition process ends in July, or funds could be allocated into next year’s budget.
“We have to make a plan to make sure we have a safe area for the residents and anybody who comes to the city of Joliet when they visit the Rialto, they go to eat, whether they are at the court or whether they go to the train station,” Ogalla said.
The site is held by the county in trust and must stay a public use.
Board member Frankie Pretzel, a Republican from New Lenox, said Joliet residents and visitors have dealt with construction as the new courthouse was being built. The former courthouse sat vacant and boarded up for about three years until demolition work began last December.
“I think we owe it to the people of Joliet to make it pretty for the next several years and I’d like to do that as quickly as possible instead of dragging our feet,” Pretzel said.
A memorial next to the footprint of the former Will County Courthouse in downtown Joliet. (Michelle Mullins for Daily Southtown)
The park designation passed by a vote of 15-7. Those against the plan asked to have more discussions with one another and with Joliet city officials.
Board members were also concerned if the park space would be permanent, or if it could change if the County Board decided to build a office building there.
Board member Sherry Newquist, a Democrat from Steger, who voted no, said she wasn’t opposed to the park designation but had questions.
“I think it’s a little premature,” she said. “When I read the resolution, there’s nothing in there that I’m interpreting as temporary.”
143rd Street property
The board also voted 13-9 to stop negotiating with property owners to acquire right of way along 143rd Street in Homer Glen until a lawsuit filed by board Republicans is resolved.
The widening project has been a contentious issue for several months as residents and Homer Glen and Homer Township officials have objected to widening 143rd Street from two to five lanes between State Street/Lemont Road and Bell Road.
Opponents said it will disrupt the rural nature of the area, invite more semi-trucks and seize their property, while the county’s division of transportation and other leaders say the project is needed to improve the traffic flow and increase safety.
The board voted to stop the project in February and look at adding a third turning lane. County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant inadvertently signed off on that resolution, realized her mistake and then vetoed it, prompting the county board Republicans to file a lawsuit in April to try and enforce their original vote.
“We do not know what the outcome of that lawsuit is going to be,” Ogalla said. “Therefore I think it is premature for us to be purchasing land.”
Board member Joe VanDuyne, chair of the board’s Public Works and Transportation Committee, said the county would need to acquire a similar amount of property if the widening were three or five lanes. The board has already asked the state legislature to approve the quick take process to help the county obtain the land, he said.
“In my mind, this is a feeble attempt to stop the project,” said VanDuyne, a Democrat from Wilmington.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
