City Government

06-16-2007 01:36 PM

City Council to decide fate of Riverside Inn expansion

By TIM BURLESON

GRANTS PASS, OR - Will there be a third-floor on the Riverside Inn Hotel? That is a matter that Grants Pass City Council will take up for consideration at their regular meeting this Wednesday night.

Carl Johnson, the owner of the Riverside Inn, submitted his request for a major variance to allow the addition of a third floor on an existing two-story building. The project's site plan and request for a major variance was approved by the Urban Area Planning Commission (UAPC) on April 25, 2007. The vote was 5-1. Robert Bean, Gerard Fitzgerald, Jocelyn Richardson, Stacey Kellenbeck, and Loree Arther voted for the major variance. Commissioner Gary Berlant voted against. Commissioners Ferris Simpson and Edward Farrar were absent.

The major variance approved by the UAPC applies to zone buffer standards found in the City's Development Code.

A City staff report states: "The City Development code requires: ... a thirty (30) foot zone buffer building setback from the eastern property line ... including a twenty (20) foot zone buffer strip along the eastern property line ... and ... a ten (10) foot exterior side yard setback. The variance would allow the third floor to be constructed on the same foot print of the existing building, which is setback only seven and one half (7.5) feet from the east property line. The subject property is located between 7th and 8th Streets, fronting the river."

The approval of the project is being appealed by Riverside Inn neighbor, Arden McConnell and local land use activist Holger Sommer. McConnell and Sommer filed grounds for appeal of the UAPC approval on May 18, 2007. The appellants cited 26 separate assignments of error (reasons for appeal). The appeal includes allegations that the property is non-conforming with the City's Development Code, that a third story would make the development even more non-conforming, that there is 4,000 gallon gasoline tank encroaching within 7.5 feet of City right-of-way on Eighth Street, that City staff never addressed fumes ("hydrocarbon odors") from the gasoline tank, that sun rays on neighboring property will be "permanently restricted," that the third floor will not meet setback requirements, and that the project does not address how the Rogue River, the "most significant natural resource" of the City will be protected.

"A complaint has been filed renewing previous complaints that the Gasoline tank is a health and safety hazard," writes Sommer in the grounds for appeal. Sommer also notes that this is a resubmittal of a major site review for the same project. "Res Judicata must apply. Apparently the applicant did not like the first decisions with its conditions and let the permit period expire intentionally to get a 'better' deal from the City."

According to the applicant's architectural firm, the development project, if approved, would "complete the transformation from a 1960s era motel to an upscale destination lodge." In this "phase 2" of the project, 15 guest rooms would be added in a new third floor located directly over the existing building. Phase 1 has already been completed and included the addition of a lobby, garden area and site landscaping.

At the meeting the City Council can affirm the UAPC decision, reverse the UAPC decision (with or without conditions), or postpone a decision.

Reach reporter Tim Burleson at 761-0195 or tim@grantspassclimate.com

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