After being delayed by two weeks due to a delayed publishing of the agenda, the proposed hotel at Lakeside will have to wait another two weeks for a decision.
Despite hours of discussion with Lakeside developer Jimmy Archie, who agreed to remove the extended stay tag from the planned hotel and reduce the building size by at least 17%, council wasn’t persuaded the changes were enough to receive a supermajority vote.
The council tallied up the emails received in regard to the proposed hotel, which totaled more than 150, most of which had issues with “extended stay” and traffic/parking concerns.
Even with the commitment from Archie to not allow extended stays, require a minimum of a 3.5 star rating and reduce traffic and parking concerns by decreasing the size of the building and implementing strict parking management, council tabled the item by a vote of 4-1.
Council member Chris Drew wanted to ensure residents were supportive of the new plan and Deputy Mayor Pro Term Adam Schiestel wanted more time for the developers to get a better idea of brands that might be expected to come based on the new plan.
One of the other hopes for residents was a unique, non-chain, boutique-style hotel.
According to town staff, that cannot be required.
Archie and his team couldn’t name a certain brand, but said Marriott had approved a Residence Inn at the space. However, with the current zoning, they could bring in whatever quality of hotel.
The developers offered a minimum of a 3.5-star hotel, but could bring in something of lesser quality if their proposal is denied.
Council member Brian Taylor was the single vote against tabling the item. He believed the clientele expected to stay at this hotel would mostly be business people.
“We’ve listened to residents and we’ve received more and new information tonight,” he said. “Business people often go to the chains.”
According to a hospitality expert, removing the extended stay possibility was “a very drastic move, but an important one” to reaching an agreement.
Schiestel seemed set on tabling the item earlier in the night based on the changes made.
“I feel we’re in the middle of this journey,” he said. “And I don’t think there’s anything we can do tonight to approve it, but I’m not in favor of denial.”
Schiestel seemed okay with the possibility of a Residence Inn after he said he visited the Residence Inn at The Star in Frisco, saying he believed it would live up to the standards of residents.
“But the residents have said they don’t want an extended stay and we have to respect that,” he said.
In regard to parking, Archie said there would be ways for Lakeside management to properly mitigate parking issues via valet services and effective communication with surrounding properties that would free up spaces designated for the hotel.
Council seemed confident in Archie that he could make that happen, as well as bring a high-quality product like he has with the rest of Lakeside.
It would’ve been a stretch for the plan to be approved as council would have had to vote at least four in favor to override the denial recommended by Planning and Zoning in February.
The item will come back to Town Council at its next regular meeting on Monday, May 4 with the hopes of more clarity.
“We’ve said we need to look at this closely because it’s right at our entry,” said Mayor Cheryl Moore. “And we want the residents to be part of this deliberation.”
