By Sam Elliot
The Westfield Advisory Plan Commission hosted public hearings for four proposed projects across the city and unanimously voted to pass one through to the Westfield City Council with a positive recommendation during its first regular meeting of the month, Nov. 2.
On the east side of Oak Ridge Road and south of Ind. 32 with the Midland Trace Trail to the south and Monon Trail to the east, representatives of the project, The Trails, presented site plans and design renderings and requested for approximately 13.75 acres to be rezoned from AG-SF1: Agriculture-Single Family Rural District to The Trails PUD District.
The Trails will include two lots — one for apartments on the east side of the property and the second for a family entertainment center housing laser tag, bowling, an arcade, meeting spaces and shopping and dining opportunities. The approximately 70,000-square-foot, two-floor building would feature an additional 4,000 to 4,500 square feet of space on a second-floor mezzanine overlooking the Monon Trail while approximately another 3,000 square feet would be available for outdoor dining with direct access to the trail.
The commission approved sending the project to the city council with a positive recommendation on the condition that additional apartments be removed from the list of permitted uses for the second lot. Commission members also requested more detailed renderings of the family entertainment center building.
Birch Dalton, presenting the project on behalf of EdgeRock Development, agreed to keep the second lot solely commercial without additional residential possibilities.
The project had a public hearing at the commission’s Sept. 8 meeting. Since then, the maximum building height for the apartments was changed from the originally proposed 120 feet to 80 feet. Additional changes since the public hearing included clarification of the connections to both the Midland Trace and Monon Trails, modifying the building materials requirements and confirmation that the bridge connecting the project’s two lots will be built at the same time as the rest of the frontage road instead of being phased in after.
The next Westfield Advisory Plan Commission meeting is set for 7 p.m. Nov. 16, at City Hall, 130 Penn St.