Plan for 102-room hotel in SLO is stymied by neighbors' appeal

Plans for a 102-room hotel on Monterey Street hit a roadblock Wednesday following a successful appeal by a group of concerned San Luis Obispo residents who took issue with its size, mass, and doors and balconies facing San Luis Creek and their neighborhood below.

The city’s Planning Commission voted 6-1 to uphold the appeal filed by Bob Lucas in August challenging a permit issued by the city allowing the hotel development at 1845/1865 Monterey St.

The project will now go before the City Council early next year.

Concerned residents packed the meeting in the council chambers Wednesday, leaving standing room only.

The 60,368-square-foot, four-level contemporary hotel, proposed to be built in an “L” shape around Pappy McGregor’s restaurant with parking both behind the restaurant and under the hotel, is being developed by Andrew Firestone and Jess Parker of West Coast Asset Management.

“We know a hotel will be built there,” said Angela Soll, who lives in the neighborhood behind the proposed hotel. “We are not against the hotel; we are against the invasion of privacy.”

Soll filed a separate appeal challenging the city’s Architectural Review Commission's approval of the project’s design — which will be heard by the City Council in January.

The Planning Commission, in upholding the appeal of the use permit, ruled that several aspects of the project do not conform to mandatory zoning regulations at the site including the number of balconies facing the creek and the location of the parking. The commission also said that the height of the building would create overlook, noise and glare issues on the neighborhood along San Luis Drive and San Luis Creek.

Lucas said that ultimately neighbors want the number of doors and balconies facing the creek to be significantly reduced and the parking proposed for beneath the hotel moved to a different place so that the noise from it will be buffered.

On Thursday, Firestone said he will appeal the Planning Commission’s decision to the City Council, taking into consideration the direction from the Planning Commission and neighbors’ concerns.

“We are taking all of those to heart, and those things will have to be part of the solution,” Firestone said. “We will make this work by reaching a consensus between the city, us and the neighborhood.”

This story was originally published December 11, 2014 at 7:22 PM with the headline "Plan for 102-room hotel in SLO is stymied by neighbors' appeal."