Westfield City Council members unanimously approved an amendment adding an extra acre to the Grand Millennium mixed-used development at its March 28 meeting.
Grand Millennium is being developed south of Park Street and on both sides of Westfield Boulevard.
The Westfield Washington Public Library will now be built on the land acquired at the corner of Park Street and Westfield Boulevard. The library was previously slightly south of the parcel.
The acre was owned by Dan Moyer and is on the south side of Park Street on the western border. It is used for parking for Park Street patrons. Grand Millennium developers did a land swap with Moyer, who now owns part of the property previously in the western portion of the development.
“We wanted to move the library north, but we couldn’t do that because that acre was not in the (planned unit development),” council member Scott Willis said.
Willis said the primary reason for shifting the library north was to improve its visibility.
“The library is not adding land to its footprint. It’s the same acreage. We are just shifting to the north to give it more visibility,” Willis said.
Council President Mike Johns asked how long parking will continue at that location and if an alternative parking option was in motion. When construction begins on the parking lot, parking will be available at the old Hardee’s lot at 518 Park St. There also is parking in the lot east of Grand Junction Plaza.
The council unanimously approved the amendment, with Willis abstaining because he serves on the library board.
The council also discussed how the library is working with Westfield Washington Township on combining services at the new library when it opens, although nothing was approved.
“The vision was all city services would be consolidated on a campus in Grand Millennium, but it never played out that way,” Willis said. “The school administration is going elsewhere, city (services) is staying put and the fire station (headquarters) is going elsewhere.”
Costs will be reduced by the township sharing a location with the library.
“They are sharing a parking lot, sharing services, sharing snow removal,” Willis said. “All costs that are maintaining a property are then spread out across multiple government entities.”
For more, visit westfield.in.gov.
