DATE: Sunday, June 22, 1997                 TAG: 9706220141

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW DOLAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   61 lines

CONTROVERSIAL HOTEL FOR WESTERN BRANCH GETS ANOTHER CHANCE CITY COUNCIL WILL RECONSIDER THE PROPOSAL WITH SOME MODIFICATIONS.

The Planning Department offered its opinion, the Planning Commission made its recommendation, then the City Council voted.

But it wasn't enough.

A controversial hotel proposal for Western Branch, which claimed endorsements from the Planning Commission and its staff but was denied at the City Council by a 5-4 vote last week, will be heard again Tuesday.

The proposed four-story, 82-room Chesapeake Inn would replace two existing homes on Portsmouth Boulevard near Interstate 664. Chesapeake-based LTD Management Co., owner and operator of five city hotels, proposed to build one of the area's first all-suites hotels on a 1.7-acre site.

Vice Mayor John W. Butt and council members Elizabeth P. Thornton and Dwight M. Parker, who voted to approve the hotel, asked the city clerk Thursday to revive the Chesapeake Inn proposal.

``In talking to the various council members, we felt that we might be able to get a different configuration, get something done with the road - Peek Trail - something about getting a bigger meeting room for the hotel. Then it might be something the community would accept better,'' Thornton said.

Thornton added that the city's Department of Economic Development encouraged the council to reconsider the proposal.

To revisit the Marriott-affiliated hotel plan, the council members invoked a section of council's Rules of Order and Procedure that is only employed about two or three times a year, according to City Clerk Dolores A. Moore.

The council is expected to continue its deliberations on the hotel past Tuesday's meeting until July or August. City officials said four council members, including one of the hotel's supporters, Mayor William E. Ward, are expected to be absent from Tuesday's meeting.

Critics of the project, including five council members who voted against it and several civic leagues, focused on several problems with the hotel: a lack of full-service amenities, such as a restaurant and large banquet room; the four-story height; and the potential traffic congestion on Peek Trail, which is also used by the Western Branch Community Center.

James Gilliam, president of the Dunedin Civic League, which opposed the plan, said earlier this week that ``in our mind, (the hotel) just wouldn't fit. When it first came in, we were all for the hotel, but with all of the changes in parking requirements and changes for the setbacks, we began to see there was not enough room.''

But Anne Tregembo, a Western Branch civic activist and member of Dunedin Civic League, said she thinks the developer might be able to modify plans and secure approval.

``I think they are going to try to work it out. They could cut it down to three stories and put in some big banquet rooms. Maybe they could also take another two adjacent acres and offer some things for the community,'' Tregembo said.

Walton ``Pete'' Burkhimer, agent for the Chesapeake Inn application, said Friday his client would review changes to the hotel plan in the hopes of gaining the council's support.

``I don't want to be too specific yet, but we are looking at the parking-space issue and a larger meeting room for the hotel,'' Burkhimer said. He added that his client has not ruled out lopping off one story of the four-story design, but said that there were no immediate plans to buy land adjacent to the hotel.

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