From
Chris Hartmann
Title
TA191201 - Text Amendment - Hotel/Motel. An Amendment to various articles of the Unified Development Code to establish hotel and lodging definitions and classifications, and to establish standards for hotel development and redevelopment. The applicant is the City of Grand Prairie Planning Department. (On December 2, 2019, the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of this request by a vote of 5-0).
Presenter
David P. Jones, AICP, Chief City Planner
Recommended Action
Approve
Analysis
Overview
The City has witnessed a recent increase in requests for hotels, particularly budget hotels and those offering extended stay accommodations. During deliberations regarding a Specific Use Permit request for a hotel on the north side of Interstate 20, the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council expressed concern regarding the number, concentration, and character of some proposed new hotels, particularly in the southern portion of the city.
Subsequently, staff was directed to prepare an ordinance updating and establishing zoning and land use guidelines for hotel development. The current regulations in the UDC simply define a hotel as transient lodging intended for patrons that do not stay longer than 30 days. There are no other requirements that a hotel provide amenities or addition features beyond what is required for any other commercial building, even though they are used for lodging members of the public. The current ordinance also requires an SUP only if a hotel is within an overlay, within 200 feet or residential, or within 900 feet of a similar use.
The ordinance proposed by staff draws from several best practices used by other cities to regulate hotels by means of a Chain Scale Rating, amenities and features requirements, and restrictions on concentration and separation distance between hotels. The ordinance also establishes an SUP requirement for hotels anywhere in the city. Any existing hotel that is a...
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