Plat committee grants Matchbook Learning Schools a conditional sidewalk waiver, requires future sidewalk if school acquires adjacent lot

Matchbook Learning Schools received Plat Committee approval for a four‑lot commercial replat at the Indiana Avenue site (Case 2024 PLT 068) on Jan. 8, 2025, with a conditional sidewalk waiver. The committee approved the plat subject to staff conditions 1–11 and condition 13, omitted condition 12, and accepted a written commitment requiring installation of sidewalks on Ghent Avenue and 15th Street if the petitioner or a successor later takes ownership of lot 1. Committee members voted unanimously to approve the motion.

The matter drew prolonged discussion over a requested waiver of sidewalk installation on two public streets that front a neighboring industrial parcel owned by Spectrum. Joe Calderon, attorney for Matchbook Learning Schools of Indiana Inc., told the committee that Matchbook is acquiring “a tiny parcel” from Spectrum to locate a battery energy storage unit for use in instruction and that the replat is driven primarily by that small land transfer. Calderon said Matchbook will reconstruct the sidewalk along Rembrandt…