After months of negotiations between the developer and homeowners mediated by City of Westfield officials, Northpoint II — a planned unit development on 180 acres at Anthony Road and Ind. 38 — will finally move ahead.
The PUD was approved unanimously by the Westfield City Council April 22, two weeks after it was tabled due to questions over some language in the documents.
The ordinance includes a 7-to-10-acre minimum lot area to encourage a campus-like development pattern. The site will be limited only to warehouse and light industrial uses with primarily indoor operations that do not produce noise, odor, light pollution.
Senior planner Lauren Gillingham told the council that negotiations over the development with neighbors produced a unique request for a forested buffer between the development and Anthony Road properties. Developer Holladay Properties agreed to set that land aside.
“The most notable aspect, in my opinion of this development, is the 10-acre preservation/forestation area on the western property line, as well as a 100-foot setback on the entire perimeter of the site,” Gillingham said when the PUD was first brought for consideration April 9. “Within this preservation area, the developer has committed to replacing any dead saplings in the first year. After that, for years two and three, the City of Westfield will be responsible for the maintenance and replacement of those trees.”
But questions over the city’s involvement with the maintenance of that preservation area for two years halted the approval temporarily. The maintenance is addressed in a memorandum of understanding, but that document was not included as part of the PUD. Councilors said although they were in favor of the development, lack of language addressing the MOU within the PUD was worrisome. Chief of Legal Kaitlin Glazier said the PUD and the MOU are separate agreements, and therefore do not need to be intertwined or referenced within each document.
Mayor Scott Willis said the city’s participation with two years of maintenance in the preservation area was a way to ensure neighbors that the preservation area will be successful.
“The level of cooperation we’ve seen from the city, the residents and the developer quite frankly is unprecedented in Westfield,” Willis said. “I think because of that it has resulted in a much better (agreement) with very little discourse.”
Willis said benefits of the development include:
- $175 million of estimated assessed value within the development
- $5 million in estimated annual tax revenue to the city
- $450,000 annual tax revenue to schools
- Office and warehouse space along Ind. 38, a key development corridor
Holladay will provide a $70,000 stipend to be divided among up to seven homeowners for those property owners to plant their own additional landscaping buffers.
City officials said that while they understand that property owners might not be happy about the proximity of the development, it is a must for Westfield.
“If you’re trying to bring a business or company into Westfield, we have nothing here at this time,” Councilmember Patrick Tamm said. “We missed out on significant investment during an unbelievable period of the state’s growth, billions upon billions of dollars of commercial investment and Westfield received very little to none other than standard, quick service restaurants and standard other projects that do not positively impact our tax base like this type of project.”
Northpoint II was first proposed in 2022 but was shelved due to concerns from neighbors.
Since last fall, the applicant has held four meetings with the Northpoint II task force, a group of homeowners from the Anthony Road area who are directly impacted by the development.
