The fast-growing City of Westlake continued to make way for expansion of its jobs base with the Tuesday, Jan. 18 approval of 227,000 square feet of “light industrial” space near Seminole Pratt Whitney Road as part of the Westlake Landings project.
The request was approved 5-0, with Councilwoman Pilar Valle Ron casting her first vote as a member of the council. She was appointed by the council in December to fill Seat 1, left vacant by the Nov. 1 resignation of former Councilman Patric Paul. She was sworn in at the start of the Jan. 18 meeting.
The 17.4-acre site had been allocated for a combination of office space (35,000 square feet) and light industrial space (150,000 square feet). However, with Ed Mitchell Realty of Fort Lauderdale stepping forward with a plan to use the entire space allocation for varied occupancy light industrial, property owner Minto asked the council for a master plan amendment to Pod G of the 50-acre Westlake Landings Commercial Plaza.
The project could house anything from light manufacturing to tile, granite or window fabricators to distributors of various kinds, said Donaldson Hearing, of Cotleur & Hearing, who was on hand to represent Minto.
Consisting of two buildings — one of approximately 150,000 square feet and the other some 75,000 square feet — each would be single story with 32 feet of interior clearance. The space can be configured for businesses that need as little as 8,000 square feet, to a single tenant occupying both buildings.
Landing a tenant to take all 227,000 square feet is like “whale hunting or elephant hunting,” Mitchell told the council, and not entirely desirable, because of the difficulty of replacing such a tenant were the business to leave.
Pointing to his 35 years of experience with similar projects, Mitchell told the council that most likely there will be multiple tenants involved in the homebuilding industry.
“We could also see possibly an Amazon,” he said. “We just don’t know what we’re going to see until we start building the projects.”
However, due to Westlake’s location, Mitchell said that the project will provide a great opportunity to bring more, good-paying jobs to the community.
“Every city needs to have some component of light industrial,” Hearing said. “We’re really excited… Light industrial will increase the amount of non-residential [space] that is out in this area, providing workplace opportunities, jobs, industry and really just diversifying the overall landscape.”
The council agreed with the concept.
“It’s a good shift to bring light industrial here,” Councilwoman Katrina Long-Robinson said.
In other business:
• Vice Mayor John Paul O’Connor called Westlake resident Megan Hemp to the podium and showed a video to honor her for the grassroots organizing she did to create a Christmas parade of golf carts and other vehicles that spread throughout several neighborhoods.
“This is that secret sauce we always talk about that is Westlake,” said O’Connor, who will become mayor in March.
O’Connor said that Hemp’s efforts were “absolutely incredible” but that the community needed a more formal way of planning for events. He suggested that an events committee should be created, and fellow council members agreed, directing staff to create an ordinance. A city-sponsored fireworks display is already planned for the Fourth of July.
• Council members also expressed their desire to move forward as quickly as possible with selecting the five members of the new Art in Public Places Committee. City Manager Kenneth Cassel said he would advertise the openings and have a list of possible committee members available to the council at its March meeting. A formal arts education is not required for appointment to the board. “Let’s hit the ground running with this,” O’Connor said.
