CDRC to continue review of Econo Lodge plans

Renovation plans for the Oxmoor Road Econo Lodge came before the Community Development Review Committee (CDRC) on Aug. 24. The purpose of the meeting was for review, not to make any decision.

Most of the meeting centered around clarifying the meaning of the West Homewood code and under what circumstances the developer will have to request warrants, or minor deviations from the code.

The main issue discussed was part of the code that says if renovations involve more than 50 percent of the property, the developer would be required to bring the whole property up to the new standards. There was some question over what square footage measure should be used for this calculation.

CDRC and Ward 2 Representative Vance Moody said the roofline should be added to the square footage count.

“It says if it is connected by current roofline, it’s part of the current structure,” Moody said.

Ultimately, the CDRC members did not agree on how the square footage rule should be interpreted, so they decided city attorney Mike Kendrick should make the call later.

The committee also asked questions about whether the Econo Lodge development would subdivide the property, which Moody said would require they ask for a warrant. The developers have not yet decided if they will subdivide it.

Additionally, the commitee clarified that the hotel plans now call for Patel’s personal residence to be inside one of the buildings instead of its own structure.

At one point in the discussion, Mayor Scott McBrayer deviated from the meeting’s focus on interpretation of the West Homewood code: “Personally, I think for me if we were to truly represent the city and our neighbors in West Homewood… the bottom line is… I don’t think this fits in the spirit of what we are trying to accomplish.”

Later, Patel wanted to clarify that the purpose of his plans.

“This wasn’t intended to cause issues,” Patel said.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the CDRC decided to review the plans again in about three weeks, or earlier if the plans are prepared in advance. Patel and the professionals he is working with plan to add the roofline to the square footage in the revised version.