The West Des Moines City Council on Monday approved zoning changes for a 26-acre site south of Grand Avenue on which Suite Shots, a golf entertainment venue, is planned. Below: The map shows a possible layout of the site, with Suite Shots taking up a portion of the southern half of the parcel. A hotel, restaurants and other retail are proposed on the northern portion of the property. Rendering and map part of City Council packet

A request to change the zoning of land on which a golf entertainment venue is proposed was approved by the West Des Moines City Council on Monday, just a few hours after a lawsuit was filed asking a judge to halt the process of changing the land use to accommodate the development.

Local developer Paul Cownie is partnering with a Fargo, N.D., developer to bring Suite Shots to a portion of the 26-acre site that is on the southwest corner of Interstate Highway 35 and Grand Avenue. Suite Shots would include a three-story building with a restaurant, bar and 60 climate-controlled bays from which golfers hit balls onto a range.

Also proposed on the site are a hotel, restaurants and office buildings.

Some residents who live in the nearby gated community of Glen Oaks oppose the development, saying it will adversely affect the value of their properties, increase traffic along Grand Avenue and be unsightly.

Late Monday, the Concerned Citizens for Grand Avenue Development filed a lawsuit in Polk County District Court asking a judge to issue an injunction that would prohibit the city of West Des Moines from moving forward with steps that would change the zoning of the parcel, a process needed to allow the proposed development to advance.

“We ask that the City Council reject [the proposed zoning changes] so that we can dismiss our lawsuit,” wrote Gary Dickey, an attorney representing the neighborhood group, in a letter to the council. “Otherwise, we’ll see you in court.”

The city did not respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.

Currently, the city’s comprehensive land use map designates the parcel as support commercial. The parcel is also zoned as open space. The council on Monday approved changing the land use to regional commercial and to rezone the parcel as a planned unit development, a move that allows the city to better control what is built on the site.

Rezoning the parcel requires two more votes from the council.

In the lawsuit, the neighborhood group alleges that the city did not correctly follow the process to establish planned unit development zoning; that it failed to temporarily halt the rezoning process when it was asked to by the group; that it failed to consider “smart planning principles” put in place by Iowa lawmakers; that it is implementing spot zoning; and that it is failing to enforce city height and setback requirements.

In February, people associated with the neighborhood group threatened legal action if the development moved forward.

While the lawsuit was not mentioned during Monday’s council meeting, city staff did address the height of the poles that are proposed to surround Suite Shots’ driving range. The poles will be about 150 feet tall and be connected by netting. Originally, city staff and others had thought lights would be on the poles. However, the driving range, which faces east toward the interstate, will be lit from lights on the building.

Lynn Twedt, the city’s director of development services, told the council that the poles are acceptable in all of the city’s zoning districts.

“Our fencing section has, point blank, in it a provision for recreational purposes that states in all zoning districts, fences associated with a sports or recreational facility … generally available by use by the public is not subject to height and setback requirements,” Twedt told the council. “That is what we are applying to these poles.”

Cownie told the council that the development will attract scores of people to West Des Moines’ West Grand Avenue corridor, which includes the city’s RecPlex, a newly opened indoor/outdoor recreation facility; Des Moines Area Community College; Des Moines University, which is under construction; and office developments.

Suite Shots will create about 150 jobs, and other projects in the proposed development will create dozens of additional jobs, Cownie said. “Suite Shots alone is a $30 million development. … The balance of this development easily takes [it to] $100 million. Suite Shots fits well with the West Des Moines comprehensive plan. It is very complementary to the RecPlex and to the West Grand corridor in general.

“We think Suite Shots is — big time — part of the solution for the future of the West Grand corridor.”

Council members on Monday said that they talked with people in the community, both who supported the proposed development and opposed it. While they said they understood concerns raised by the neighborhood group, they said the proposed development would be beneficial to West Des Moines.

“I understand the concerns that people have brought forward,” Mayor Russ Trimble said. However, “I am in support of this project. I think that this is a great project and … it’s what we call a game changer for our community.”

Read the lawsuit: To read the lawsuit, click here.