Batavia's Funway plans largest expansion since 2004

The Funway Entertainment Center in Batavia is planning to add a go-cart track and more parking in its most significant expansion since building a bowling alley in 2004.

The city's plan commission this week voted 6-0 to recommend approval of the plan and it likely will head to the city council, which has the final say, for discussion on May 22, planning and zoning officer Joel Strassman said.

Funway owner Bob Hansen could not immediately be reached for comment, but one of his associates said construction of the go-cart track and addition is expected to begin this fall.

The city's planning staff also had a favorable recommendation, concluding the project fit the goals of the city's comprehensive plan and does not hurt surrounding property owners.

"This would be the most significant expansion of the property since the bowling alley addition in 2004," City Planner Drew Rackow wrote in a memo. "The public will see a gain through an expanded regional attraction within the community."

In the plan, Funway plans to expand its miniature golf course, construct a 5,085-square-foot addition, and pave a go-cart track. To make room for the track, Funway will demolish the former Producer's Chemical building at 1355 S. River St., which Funway bought in 2015 and had been vacant since 2012, according to Rackow's memo.

Funway's plan will add 28 parking spaces for a total of 239. The city code, however, requires 42 more spaces, but experts don't believe it will be a problem.

Jon Green, an engineer with Engineering Resource Associates, wrote in a memo to the city that the Funway plan should have sufficient parking even if only 28 spaces are added.

"Funway's indoor and outdoor attractions have different peak times," Green wrote. "During the winter months, the indoor attractions are at their peak and during the summer months, the outdoor attractions are at their peak."