A land rezoning to facilitate the development of a Fat Cats entertainment center 575 feet west of the northwest corner of Ellsworth and Riggs roads is to be discussed Wednesday.

“The proposed 61,040-square-foot Fat Cats entertainment center is proposed to include eight movie theaters, 20-lane bowling alley, arcade games, dining, indoor miniature golf (and) party rooms,” Brett Burningham, development services director, and Sarah Clark, senior planner/project manager, said in a memo to the Queen Creek Town Council.

The Town Council is slated to hold a public hearing on the rezoning and a site plan for the 3.7-acre property at a meeting Feb. 5 in the Community Chambers, 20727 E. Civic Parkway.

Meetings begin at 5:30 p.m., with public hearings no earlier than 7 p.m., in the Community Chambers Building, 20727 E. Civic Parkway.

The proposal consists of a request for rezoning and site plan approval to amend the Pecan Lakes Planned Area Development to eliminate 18 residential lots. It also increases the commercial-zoned district from 3.3 acres to 7 acres to facilitate the development of the Fat Cats entertainment center, Mr. Burningham and Ms. Clark said in the memo.

“The applicant is not requesting any deviations from the Zoning Ordinance to accommodate the proposed entertainment use,” they said.

The development includes a 10-foot, multiuse trail along Riggs Road. Proposed building elevations incorporate a mixture of wood cladding, standing seam shed awnings, stucco, storefront windows, stucco columns and a mixture of split and smooth face concrete masonry unit block. The front entry tower for the building has a building height of 48 feet and the roof parapet of the remainder of the building varies from 44 feet to 35 feet in height, according to the memo.

The applicant is proposing a band of colored lighting at the roof parapet at the front elevation and colored lighting around the perimeter of the front entryway.

“The proposed lighting features can change color, but the applicant has stated that the lights would only change color on certain days (i.e., holidays) and are not animated. Staff has expressed concern with the use of the proposed lighting due to the project site’s proximity to adjacent residential neighborhoods --- Toll Brothers at Bridle Ranch approximately 580-feet to the south and Orchard Ranch approximately 1,650 feet to the southeast --- and the general context of the surrounding area,” Mr. Burningham and Ms. Clark said in the memo.

The development is to incorporate Fan-Tex Ash trees along Riggs Road and a dense planting of Canary Island Pine, which can grow to more than 50 feet in height, and Joan’s Liotteti Oak --- a faster growing oak variety with a denser crown --- along the northern perimeter to provide a dense buffer to the future residents to the north, the memo states.