MOUNT VERNON – A hotel developer got approval during a meeting on Wednesday from the Mount Vernon Board of Zoning Appeal for height and setback variances to build a Hampton Inn hotel on Venture Drive.
Vaibhav Patel of Macedonia spoke as a representative of R. Chandat LLC, the applicant for the variances.
“We are a primary hospitality development group," Patel said. "It’s a family business. We construct hotels and operate them for a long amount of time. We are proposing to build a Hampton Inn by Hilton in Mount Vernon."
He said the development group asked for a height variance to almost 58 feet for the four-story hotel. Elevator shafts and architectural elements would be higher than the limit of 35 feet in GB zoning.
The company plans 99 rooms with eight employees and 107 parking spaces, including five ADA spaces.
“There are a number of structures in the GB district exceeding the code maximum including three buildings on the hospital campus, the newest constructed in 2019 at 83 feet,” Lacie Blankenhorn, Mount Vernon development services manager, said.
The Danbury building across Venture Drive from the hotel site was 33 feet tall, Blankenhorn said in answer to a question from Councilmember Mike Hillier, who spoke to the board.
Board Chairman Michael Percy said the apartment building to be built on Mulberry Street at the old school site in a Neighborhood Commercial District was granted a variance to 40 feet, above the required height limit of 30 feet.
Blankenhorn’s staff report also addressed the request for a variance to a 10-foot west side setback from the required 15 feet of side yard setback to have enough room to build a patio for the hotel’s guests.
“There is a water line on the adjacent property in the turf area restricting any further development in that area of the parcel,” Blankenhorn said.
The Board of Zoning Appeals voted to approve the height and setback variances.
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