Consultants present Phase 1 findings for Westfield downtown master plan, highlight walkability and State Road 32 as top challenges

Browning Day representatives Christine Pearson and Paul Wolf presented the Phase 1 discovery and organization work for Westfield’s downtown master plan at the Feb. 24 council meeting, summarizing analysis, constraints and nine design priorities the consultant team will use to evaluate alternative visions.

The nut graf: The consultants said their work will move from analysis to design and visualization, with a clear set of criteria that prioritize walkability and connected public spaces. They identified State Road 32 as the project’s main physical barrier and described multiple options — from pedestrian-grade separations to targeted access changes — that will be tested in later design phases.

Christine Pearson said the team organized the master plan into three phases and intentionally prioritized discovery and inventory so the final report “tells the story” before showing design solutions. She reviewed comparative analyses showing Downtown Westfield’s large greenspace footprint and a relative lack of interspersed retail and parking compared with peer cities such as Fishers, Carmel and Zionsville. Pearson said the deliverable will include a “kit of parts” (place types, streetscapes and open-space elements) to be used in design iterations.

Paul Wolf, design architect and urban designer, listed eight challenges derived from the discovery work: shifting the current “center of gravity” of development toward a more central downtown; improving “here-and-there” connections between neighborhoods and parks; clarifying the downtown identity; balancing zoning “districts and blends”; leveraging Westfield’s green network and creek; creating a cohesive parking and walkability strategy; building place attachment so downtown “wows” residents; and encouraging a diversity of downtown housing. Wolf said the consultant team will evaluate design options against those criteria and weight them based on community priorities. “We’ve taken those challenges and turned them into our design criteria,” Wolf said.

Councilors pressed the consultants on State Road 32 and pedestrian crossings. Pearson and Wolf described potential interventions — including underpasses or elevated crossings used in other towns and a range of access-shift options — and said the final recommendations will test safety and connectivity tradeoffs. “It’s certainly a difficult challenge,” Wolf said of 32; he added that solutions range from lower-cost access adjustments to major capital interventions that would require public–private partnerships.

Ending: The consultants said they will move into a visualization phase and ask the council to review design iterations as they are developed. No formal action was taken at the Feb. 24 meeting; consultants will return with sketches and three-dimensional visualizations in later phases.