Town council members unanimously approved the site plan at their Dec. 12 meeting. Officials with the town celebrated the center's groundbreaking in April.
The details
The center will be about 204,000 square feet situated on 17.4 acres of land in the town located south of SH 114 and west of Chadwick Parkway, according to town documents. The town’s planning and zoning commission recommended approval of the site plan at its meeting Nov. 19.
Town staff said at the meeting that WRA Architects Inc., the applicant, requested several variances as part of the site plan. One was to allow an area of overflow parking that is not paved in the southwest corner of the development. The applicant also wanted a variance on the number of trees required in the parking lot.
WRA Architects Inc. requested 18 canopy trees be included in the parking lot instead of the required 44.
The extra parking space will be monitored and used only when necessary, Town Manager Drew Corn said at the Dec. 12 meeting.
“It won’t be a free-for-all,” he said.
What they’re saying
Brian Montini, Northlake mayor, said at the meeting that the site plan was a good way to see what the project will look like before the town spends any money on it.
“We are in a very good position here,” Montini said. “We also have the largest StarCenter anywhere in Dallas. It's a great way to start without putting down money.”
The mayor said one thing was missing from the proposed site plan: the town’s logo.
“We need that logo somewhere by this entrance,” he said.
Corn told the mayor he and staff would find a way to include the town’s logo on the facility.
What else?
Construction on the indoor sports center is expected to be complete in September, with infrastructure improvements set for completion the following year. The infrastructure work will cost about $17.2 million and will include improvements to area water, sewer and drainage, as well as roadways, sidewalks and trails.
