City approves use change to allow All Saints hotel
Update: 6:23 p.m.
City Commissioners unanimously approved a land use change that will allow a developer to build a hotel on Railroad Avenue in the All Saints District.
All Saints residents have opposed the hotel. They worry it will take hundreds of parking spaces and clash with the city's eclectic look and feel. But Will Butler, a real estate asset manager working with the developer to bring a hotel to the site, said he'd be open to exploring different retail uses on the ground floor of the hotel.
The vote means the city can move forward with closing on the deal with the developer, Summit Holdings XV, to sell 3.1-acre, $2-million parcel. With the land use change, the western two acres of the property will be sold to hotel company, the eastern end will become a Publix grocery store.
Update: 4:46 p.m.
About 20 residents spoke out against a proposed hotel in the All Saints District at tonight's City Commission meeting.
The commission will vote later tonight on whether to change a 3.1-acre parcel from retail to land use to fit a developer's wish to build a hotel, rumored to be a Hampton Inn.
Original story:
The Tallahassee City Commission meets this afternoon. It's expected that many people will come out to speak out against a proposed modification of a $2 million city land deal that would allow a hotel to be built on the edge of the eclectic All Saints District.
Commissioners are also expected to vote on changes to city's parks ordinance. Among the changes is allowing law enforcement officers to pursue trespass warnings for those people who break the city's park ordinance.
Commissioner Scott Maddox is proposing a "Can vs. Cash Fine" program, which will allow first-time parking violators to pay their $10 ticket with canned food. Maddox said city staff would collect the cans and give the food to Second Harvest of the Big Bend.
The program would only be in effect during the holiday season and would end at the beginning of 2016.
Contact Sean Rossman atsrossman@tallahassee.com or follow@SeanRossman on Twitter.