The City Council created a building zone Tuesday night that would allow a high-rise hotel in the Riverbottoms even though a national hotelier has decided Provo isn't the right move.
In a 4-3 vote, council members approved a research and business park support zone that would permit up to a 90-foot-high building. The zone could be applied only adjacent to the RiverWoods Research and Business Park, 4800 N. University Ave.Mayor George Stewart said Wednesday morning that he will veto the measure.
"I don't support it. I don't think it's necessary. I don't want a 90-foot hotel down there," he said.
Stewart prefers the height of any new building in the Riverbottoms to be capped at 55 feet. The city should set the building standards and ask developers to comply, he said.
Two weeks ago, hotelier John Q. Hammons abandoned Provo and started looking for sites in Orem to build an eight-story Embassy Suites hotel. His local consultant, Randy Deschamps, withdrew a request that the city create the research park zone and rezone 20 acres next to RiverWoods. BAT Investments - comprising Word-Perfect founders Bruce Bastian and Alan Ashton and vice president Duff Thompson - owns the property as well as most of the land in the 112-acre research park.
Hammons turned to Orem because he didn't think he could muster support from the Stewart administration even if the council approved an eight-story hotel. Deschamps said BAT now wants to sell its property outside the park for a shopping center.
Councilwoman Jane Carlile favors the zone with a 90-foot height limit on buildings. "I think 55 feet is too restrictive," she said.
And Councilman Jim Daley didn't mind going even higher. "I wanted this thing to go 90 stories," he said.
Alan Parkinson, the northeast Provo resident who led the fight against an eight-story hotel, walked out of Tuesday's meeting shaking his head. "I'm astounded," he said.
"This vote by the City Council constitutes nothing less than a slap in the face of the residents. The rationale for the 90-foot hotel was clear while Mr. Hammons was dangling a $25 million hotel in front of the council. But to adopt 90 feet as the height of the zone after the developer has withdrawn his proposal - to have the opportunity to define sensible and consistent zoning for the future and instead essentially invite other proposals for high-rise structures - this action cannot be defended on any grounds whatsoever," Parkinson said.
If Stewart vetoes the zoning ordinance, the seven-member council could override it with a two-thirds majority, or five votes.
Council Chairman David Rail said he doesn't know whether the council would consider an override at its meeting next Tuesday.
Stewart based his opposition to the eight-story hotel on the assumption that city officials years ago promised northeast Provo residents that buildings in the area would not exceed 55 feet.
But Dan Johnson, a long-time Provo planning commissioner, said no such promises were made.
"The point I want to make sure you understand is that there was no mention of or even a concept of a research and business park support zone," he wrote in a letter to the council. "How then could there have been promises made regarding something that was not even thought of yet?"