New hotel plan given for Sylvania Twp. site

1/8/2003

Plans have been submitted to the Lucas County Plan Commission detailing a proposed three-story Hawthorne Suites hotel near U.S. 23/I-475 and Central Avenue in Sylvania Township.

Although a hearing is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 22, Jerome Parker, the attorney for Donald Finnegan, Jr., a former township trustee who wants to develop the property, said he plans to meet with neighbors before the hearing with the planning commission.

An earlier attempt to develop the site at the intersection of Mortemore and Moffat drives just north of Central and east of the expressway, was withdrawn about two years ago. Jay Fisher, the applicant for the zoning change, said then that he didn't have sufficient funding for necessary infrastructure work.

At that time, Mr. Finnegan said he would try to develop a similar project on the site.

His company, Monroe Street Special, Inc., is the applicant for a zoning change at the site. He requests a change from residential and commercial zoning to Planned Unit Development.

The earlier proposal was for a hotel and restaurant and the county staff had recommended against a change in zoning, saying the development would have been “too intense, given the residential character of the area.''

Mr. Parker pointed out that the current plan doesn't include a restaurant and that he hopes to close a portion of Moffat Drive to through traffic.

“Those are some of the things I want to discuss with the neighbors before we have a public hearing,'' Mr. Parker said.

Although the plans are different, they aren't viewed differently by Ronald Slaughterbeck who has lived on Moffat more than 25 years.

“It's still commercial pushing into neighborhoods. They're just chewing up more residential in the township,'' Mr. Slaughterbeck said.

He described the neighborhood as quiet with well-kept houses.