Love's wins court ruling after six-year battle for Joliet truck stop site

An Illinois appeals court has ruled in favor of Love’s Travel Stops in a legal battle that is now in its sixth year since Joliet approved a site for a new rest stop.

A Love’s spokeswoman said the company is eager to build in Joliet, while a leader of the opposition group said it hasn’t given up the fight.

In a ruling Thursday, the 3rd District Court of Appeal in Ottawa said the narrow strip of land connecting the Love site to the city of Joliet was a legitimate annexation.

Love’s wants the site at the intersection of Briggs Street and Interstate 80 to become part of the city of Joliet so a future truck stop could be served by city water and sewer.

Neighbors of the site opposed the truck stop’s annexation before it was approved by the Joliet City Council in October 2018. They later filed a lawsuit seeking to block the city’s approval, largely based on the claim that a 19.5-foot strip of land used to connect the site to Joliet did not amount to a legal annexation.

The appeals court’s decision affirmed the Will County Circuit Court’s decision in favor of annexation. The appeals court added: “This decision does not create a rule regarding the minimum length that creates contiguity of properties.”

Love spokeswoman Lauren Daniels said in an email Friday that the company was pleased with the decision and looked forward to “continuing the process of joining the Joliet community.”

A truck moves along Briggs Street at the Interstate 80 interchange where Love’s Travel Stops wants to build a truck stop in Joliet.
(Eric Ginnard)

Jacquenette Cottrell, a leader of the neighborhood group fighting the truck stop, said they haven’t given up the fight.

“It’s not over, far from it,” Cottrell said.

The next legal step would be to take the case to the Illinois Supreme Court.

Cottrell, however, also noted a change in the city’s leadership since the City Council approved Love’s annexation.

In 2018, then-Mayor Bob O’Dekirk received the sixth vote needed to achieve the supermajority required for annexation. The final vote was 6-3 in favor of Love’s Rest Area.

O’Dekirk is no longer mayor, and Cottrell said the new council members are sympathetic to the neighbor’s cause.

What a new council could do about the Amur annexation, however, is unclear. It is unlikely the city would be able to hold a new vote to reverse an earlier annexation decision.