A public hearing Tuesday on the proposed University Inn renovation project pitted developers and supporters of the venture against representatives of the CottonMill Marketplace development, who spoke out in opposition.
Ultimately, the Starkville planning and zoning commission voted 5-0 to recommend the city”s Board of Aldermen approve developer Tabor Properties” request to allow a multi-family residential development in a C-2 general business zone. Planning and zoning commission member Jeremy Murdoch was absent and chairman Dora Herring did not vote.
Tabor Properties is requesting conditional use approval from the city to transform 100 former University Inn hotel rooms into 52 condominium units. University Inn, located at 703 Spring St., has been closed since Jan. 1.
The planning and zoning commission in May approved Tabor Properties” conditional use application, but the commission only acts in an advisory capacity to the city”s Board of Aldermen, which voted June 1 to send the conditional use application back to the planning and zoning commission due to deficiencies, omissions and incorrect advertising. The conditional use request now must go before the Board of Aldermen for approval.
Mark Nicholas, a member of the CottonMill Marketplace Development Group, owns six acres at the corner of Spring Street and Highway 12 and spoke out against Tabor Properties” conditional use request. Plans for the CottonMill Marketplace development initially included the approximately four acres on which The University Inn sits, but the landowners and Nicholas never reached an agreement on the sale, Nicholas told the planning and zoning commission. He wanted to level the University Inn for retail development.
Now, if the University Inn renovation project is approved by aldermen, the scope of the CottonMill Marketplace project may change, Nicholas said. The CottonMill Marketplace Development Group wanted to combine several properties off Highway 12, between Spring Street and Russell Street, for its project, which would total approximately 25 acres. A 10- to 15-acre portion, which included Nicholas” property and the University Inn property, would serve as a lifestyle center, or a shopping center/mixed-use commercial development with retail functions and leisure amenities geared toward upscale customers.
Without the University Inn property, Nicholas said he might be forced to build a strip mall instead of a lifestyle center at the corner of Spring Street and Highway 12, where the former Burger King, movie theater and Pizza Hut were located.
Nicholas and planning consultant Jimmy Gouras also said the renovation of the University Inn would adversely impact the “desirability, developability and value” of the properties on which the CottonMill Marketplace is proposed because it would decrease the acreage available for development. Gouras and Nicholas also warned the planning and zoning commission about allowing a piece of commercial property near a busy intersection to become residential.
“You”re basically going to downgrade a commercial piece of property to a residential piece of property on one of the best locations in Starkville,” Nicholas said.
Larry Tabor, of Tabor Properties, however, produced plans for CottonMill Marketplace dating back three years which show the CottonMill developers” plans to convert the former University Inn into student housing.
“We are asking nothing more than what they said in their plans they wanted to do,” Tabor said.
The planning and zoning commission also was skeptical of Nicholas” claims that he won”t be able to construct the lifestyle center without the University Inn property. With proper planning, an attractive and successful retail development is still possible, as opposed to a typical strip mall, planning and zoning commission member Jason Walker said.
Additionally, the CottonMill Marketplace Development Group does not yet own the Cooley Building, in which they propose to build a conference center and adjoining hotel. Planning and zoning commission member Jerry Emison was leery to vote against Tabor”s conditional use request in favor of the CottonMill Marketplace Development Group when the CottonMill group does not even own the property on which the Cooley Building sits.
After the planning and zoning commission”s vote Tuesday, Tabor declined to comment.
The CottonMill Marketplace Development Group has 10 days to appeal the planning and zoning commission”s vote.
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