The Elwood Village Board opted out of a legal tangle this week by voting to accept a developer’s withdrawal of an agreement to annex part of the Joliet Arsenal land.
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The vote follows a ruling by Will County State’s Atty. James Glasgow that a pre-annexation agreement between the village and Transport Development Group is invalid because TDG does not own the property in question.
After Glasgow’s ruling, TDG withdrew its application to have the 1,900-acre Joliet Arsenal industrial site annexed to the village.
Mayor James Clementi said the vote to accept the company’s withdrawal was unanimous.
The village didn’t have much choice in the matter, Clementi said this week. “The village can’t afford to fight (Glasgow’s ruling), and TDG has already spent enough money.”
The annexation deal may be delayed, but it isn’t dead, he said.
TDG is expected to acquire title to the property, which still rests with Army, in the spring, and then TDG owner Danny Kohrdt is expected to resubmit his annexation request, the mayor said.
He said village officials plan to annex both the arsenal land and the Steffes property, rural land that links the arsenal property to the village limits of Elwood.