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Thursday, March 6, 2008

Hotel Too Tall for Town

By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
    Among the low-lying roofs of Edgewood, a four-story building just might count as a skyscraper.
    A variance to allow for a four-story hotel in Edgewood was considered, but not given, at the Edgewood Planning and Zoning meeting Monday night.
    The application was tabled, but "with encouragement" according to commission chair Del Rea.
    Andrew Somerville, who heads Liberty Development Group, presented a preliminary design for a hotel with more than 100 rooms.
    The building is planned to be part of Liberty Square development, which will be located on both sides of old Route 66 and east of N.M. 344 intersection.
    The 29-acre development is planned to include retail shops, restaurants, a 10-screen movie theater and the hotel. The development as a whole will include more than 160,000 square feet of space.
    The plans for the hotel require it to be about two feet above the town's limit of 36 feet, as measured from six inches below the bottom floor to the roof.
    With the hotel's decorative facade, however, the design for the building is actually about 50 feet tall.
    Karen Mahalick, the town's planning and development director, said the town's fire department might not be able to put out a fire in a building that size. She said Somerville's company may be asked to purchase a ladder truck to enable the department to fight potential fires.
    Somerville said the design is from a well-known international chain, a company he is partnering with on the deal, but he did not give the chain's name.
    The variance on the town's height restriction was required to make the construction of "quality national hotel economically feasible."
    Mahalick said the variance would require Somerville to show an economic hardship.
    "A higher profit does not meet the requirement," she said.
    In addition, Doyce Wihlite requested a conditional use permit, another piece of the zoning puzzle, be submitted prior to another request for a variance.
    The item was tabled and Somerville said he would be back after doing some more "homework."