City officials expect the Spikeit facility to attract hundreds of people nightly to the city.
West Carrollton City Manager Brad Townsend said approvals for the West Central work and Spikeit face an end of February deadline in order to meet the company’s goal of opening Oct. 1.
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“They want to start moving dirt March 1, which is a critical date for them,” Townsend said.
“In order to keep them moving, we need the planning commission to approve their site plan, and we also need to issue building permits. We agreed we’d do those as parallel tracks,” he added.
West Carrollton has approved selling the land to Spikeit for $40,000 an acre. The company’s plan calls for to build an 82,000 square foot, indoor/outdoor volleyball facility with 17 sand courts, a restaurant/bar and about 350 parking spaces.
At peak times in the volleyball season, the facility is expected to employ as many as 50 people, according to Spikeit.
Both the company and the city are strongly committed to the project, “but it’s still not a done deal until everything’s finalized,” Townsend said.
“One of the elements we’re trying to fold into the site plan” is the road improvements, he said. “We’re hearing we can get all of that done by the end of next month.”
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Last week, the city was awaiting a final report on the West Central project consultant, which is recommending a “road diet,” trimming the number of lanes by one, city records show.
By state transportation standards “two travel lanes and a turn lane will carry as much traffic as a four-lane road,” Townsend said. “Because when you think about it, that inside lane on a four lane (road) becomes a turn lane whenever someone stops to make a left turn.”
If city council is receptive to that plan, “that will also make it easier for us. We want to put some on-street parking in the corridor,” he said.
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“We want to put a bike path in — also a tree lawn — and then figure out what we’re going to do we’re going to do with the water tower on the corner” of Elm, Townsend added. “All of those things will go into the roadway improvements. We just need to fold those into the site plan process as well.”
City council is expected to review the West Central plan in a work session either later this month or in early February, Townsend said.
The city’s planning commission is set to meet Feb. 21 to review Spikeit’s site plan, he said. Meanwhile, West Carrollton staff will review building permits and issue a foundation permit for the facility, city records show.
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