BATH
A developer’s proposal to tear down an existing hotel and build a new one on Richardson Street will be up for site plan review and a public hearing Tuesday night regarding proposed contract zoning for the project.
The Planning Board, which meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, is scheduled to conduct a public hearing on the contract rezoning the hotel developer is requesting, and then consider granting site plan approval.
The former Holiday Inn, recently renamed Bath Shipyard Inn after the owner dropped the franchise at 139 Richardson St., was built in 1975 on 2.85 acres, and has 141 guest rooms and a restaurant and tavern. According to Stoneybrook Consultants, applicant Bathres LLC has an agreement to redevelop the property with the current owner, Thomas T. Walsh Inc.
According to the site plan application, Bathres plans to demolish the existing building and construct a new four-story hotel with 103 guest rooms, in two phases. The first phase entails all of the site improvements and construction of a hotel with 87 guest rooms. The second phase would see construction of a four-story addition with 16 additional guest rooms. Brick veneer, cementitious clapboards, and panels and shingle roofing would likely be used on the exterior of the building but these details have not been finalized. While plans don’t call for a restaurant, the new hotel would have a swimming pool and parking for 109 vehicles.
The application cover letter by Stoneybrook also notes that substantial changes to the existing site grades and vegetation are needed, including blasting ledge, so a blasting plan has been prepared by Maine Drilling and Blasting. The proposed hotel project is located in the Commercial Contract District (C4).
Andrew Deci, the city’s planning and development director, wrote in a memo to the Planning Board that the project requires two separate approvals. The Planning Board must vote on the site plan application for the redevelopment projects; and is also required to provide a recommendation to the City Council on whether to approve or deny the contract rezoning required for the project. The City Council will then consider and take the first of two votes on the proposed contract zoning at its 6 p.m. meeting Wednesday.
Deci writes that the contract zoning would create a modified zoning district within the land use code. It would provide waivers for the 50-foot front setback from Redlon Road; for yard requirements to allow a parking space; and the height requirement to allow the four-story building a maximum height of 55 feet instead of 40 feet.
Bathres proposes voluntary conditions which would include a reduction of the allowable signage, Leeman Highway and Redlon Road sidewalk improvements, and a $65,000 cash donation for Route 1 corridor improvements.
The Planning Board on Tuesday will also consider a request for a site plan amendment submitted by JHR Development of Maine, LLC which previously received approval for a medical building at 108 Centre St. that would serve as Mid Coast Medical Group’s Bath campus.
According to Deci’s memo, JHR Development is looking to expand the previously approved 20,000- square-foot building footprint by 695 square feet, and to shift the eastern wall of the building 8 feet toward the railroad tracks so it doesn’t disturb the rest of the site’s layout.
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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