Planning panel backs Activate Games at Windward Plaza with conditions on art and dumpster gates

Activate Games Alpharetta won the Planning Commission's recommendation to city council on Feb. 6, when commissioners approved a conditional use to convert a vacant 10,965-square-foot former CVS at 3020 Windward Plaza into an indoor active entertainment gaming facility.

The recommendation, presented by city planner Kathy Cook, limits the approved use to Activate Games and includes conditions on hours, landscaping, waste enclosures and a public-art requirement. The motion to approve included a modification allowing painted wood gates for the dumpster enclosure, rather than the metal gates originally proposed by staff.

Cook told commissioners the property is in the Windward Master Plan area and that the site’s commercial land-use designation supports the proposed use. She said staff included conditions drawn from the 2024 Windward LCI update and an Urban Land Institute report, including a recommendation for native meadow grasses along the street and an art installation in the Windward Terraces area. “A sculpture with a minimum height of 10 feet shall be required along Windward Parkway with final approval by the Cultural Arts Commission,” Cook said, noting the property owner, Seelig Enterprises, had offered to coordinate a mural or other center-wide public art program.

Chase Torgerson, representing Activate Games, described the concept as an “interactive gaming facility” that blends elements of fitness and group games. “We are asking, obviously, for number 9 to be amended so that we can use wooden gates to be repaired and painted and to look nice again,” he told the commission, referring to staff condition language about the dumpster enclosure.

Staff recommended a set of conditions that: limit the conditional use to a single tenant and a maximum of 10,965 square feet; restrict the allowed activities to indoor active entertainment gaming; set hours of operation; require cleanup and improved landscaping around the site and detention pond; require replacement or repair of retaining walls and fencing; require removal and replacement of shrubs at monument signs; and require a public-art installation along Windward Parkway. Staff also recommended replacing the existing wooden dumpster gate with decorative metal gates. The applicant and staff agreed during the meeting that painted and maintained wooden gates could be acceptable if staff approved the final repair or replacement.

Commissioners asked about parking compliance, handicap-access spaces and whether the building’s existing drive-through would remain; staff said parking requirements are met and the drive-through would remain in place. Commissioners also discussed maintenance and possible enforcement language for the gate condition. One commissioner moved to approve the conditional use (CU-25-06) with staff’s conditions except that item 9 be amended to allow repaired or replaced painted wood gates as approved by staff, and to remove condition 11 because the property owner would coordinate art for the center; another commissioner seconded. The motion carried unanimously. The Planning Commission will forward the recommendation to the City Council for final action on Feb. 24.

The vote was procedural: the commission recommended approval and documented conditions that will govern building permits and inspections, and staff will verify compliance when the applicant applies for interior permits and any exterior work.