NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- The proposed 112-room, three-story Hampton Inn & Suites for the western end of Flagler Avenue was approved by the newly reconfigured City Commission tonight with the business community firmly in favor of it as an economic generator and the residents of impacted Florida Avenue opposed.
Florida Avenue resident Max Dugas asked pointedly: "Would you want this hotel in your front yard?"
But on the business side, Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce President Bob Lott was just as emphatic for passage, saying: "If we let this thing slip by, then shame on us. Shame on us."
This was the final reading on a pair of ordinances requiring approval of zone changes for the $15 million hotel to be built on 1.7 acres fronting Flagler Avenue, the city's beachside corridor to the ocean and on the backside of the hotel, residential Florida Avenue, where residents already have to deal with traffic overflow from tourism and street festivals that close Flagler to vehicular traffic at least half a dozen times a year.
The zoning measures paving the way for the hotel by Premiere Development headed by David Swentor wa approved by newly sworn Mayor Adam Barringer, newly sworn Commissioner Judy Reiker and commissioners Jack Grasty and Lynne Plaskett. Commissioner Jim Hathaway voted against the zoning measures.
Editor's Note: NSBNEWS.net will have extensive coverage of the hotel issue Wednesday, including video coverage from tonight's meeting.