More Ed Mattox Apartments For Joliet's West Side?

JOLIET, IL — In a 6-2 vote, the Joliet City Council gave preliminary approval to Joliet housing developer Ed Mattox's proposal to construct 48 apartment units on Joliet's west side, near the southeast Frontage Road overlooking Interstate 55.

Voting against the project at last week's meeting were Jan Quillman and Larry Hug.

Quillman said that Mattox has had five years of issues with his developments, leaving surrounding Joliet property owners around Timber Oaks angry. In a number of cases, the frustrated homeowners moved away from Timber Oaks altogether, Quillman said.

Before the vote, Councilman Herb Lande expressed optimism, remarking, "There's probably a need for entry-level homes in Joliet."

Quillman, who has been on the council for 16 years, had a different take.

"Mr. Lande, there's a history here with this man, OK?" she said, referring to Mattox. "We've been dealing with this for five years. The original ... plat five years ago was all condominiums and single family homes. It kept changing and changing. There were ingress and egress to build single family homes and he abandoned that many years ago when this whole thing started."

She said that Mattox has angered the neighbors in the past because he parks his heavy construction equipment on the streets of the surrounding neighborhoods and their properties are often hit with piles of blowing construction debris.

In this latest project, Quillman said that Mattox failed to notify roughly 250 surrounding homeowners of his plans to build 48 apartment units on the undeveloped land near their homes.

In the alternative, Quillman said, Mattox held a Zoom informational meeting attended by less than 10 people affiliated with a homeowner's association.

This year, Mattox intends to build 48 apartment units on 6 acres along the frontage road and Timber Ridge Court. His plans call for the construction of three 16-unit apartment buildings.

During last week's meeting, a Council member wondered if these were condominiums. They are not. These will all be apartments, a city planner explained.

After a long discussion on the pros and cons of the development, the Joliet Council gave preliminary approval for Mattox's planned unit development. The Council stipulated that Mattox must notify all the neighboring homeowners about his project in hopes of gathering their feedback.

Around March, the Council is expected to take a final vote on the Timber Oaks apartment project.

Lande reminded his colleagues that Mattox is ready to go.

Mattox has parked several road graders and bulldozers along the frontage road, anticipating an early spring start for his latest construction project.

According to Mattox's business profile with Kipling Group, "Ed’s portfolio of projects includes having developed more than 18 residential subdivision communities and over 3,000 land sites. Among some of the communities Ed developed are:

• Lake Forrest, Shorewood —450 homesites
• The Hunt Club, Shorewood —200 homesites
• Kipling Estates, a country club community, Shorewood —950 homesites
• Shorewood Glen, an active adult community, Shorewood — 1,000 homesites
• Grand Prairie, Joliet,— 600 homesites
• McKenna Woods, Plainfield — 150 homesites