Proponents of a second ice rink in Joliet will drop their legal challenge to a referendum about whether it should be built.
Matt Hagberg, president of the Joliet Jaguars hockey league, announced Friday that he and two other objectors would withdraw their challenge, which the Will County Electoral Board is to review Monday morning.
On Oct. 12, the Joliet Area Church-based Organized Body (JACOB) filed petitions to force a vote on the Joliet Park District’s proposed sale of $2.75 million in revenue bonds to build a second rink. JACOB officials oppose the west side rink because they feel the Park District has ignored the east side’s recreational needs.
On Oct. 19, Hagberg and fellow Joliet residents Thomas Moretti and Robert Porter filed an objection, questioning the validity of many of the nearly 5,700 signatures on the JACOB petitions.
But “we feel it is in the best interest of the Joliet community (and) the taxpayers to withdraw our objection,” Hagberg said, noting that the organization can’t afford a long legal fight.
The league, with 450 to 500 boys and girls ages 3 to 18, spends $60,000 a year for ice time at Aurora and Bolingbrook rinks because the Joliet facility is booked, Hagberg said. The league, along with high school hockey clubs from Plainfield, Minooka, Providence and Joliet Catholic, would buy more ice time if a second rink is built, he said.
The district’s authority to sell the bonds to finance the rink expired Nov. 1, and the winning bid is only valid through next Saturday, park officials said Friday. Park Board President Bill Tatro said commissioners have not discussed whether to continue with the project.
