City board wants plans for boutique hotel scaled down
A developer proposing a 46room boutique hotel along Lincoln Avenue in San Rafael will have to scale back plans, the Design Review Board said this week.
The board voted 5-0-1 Tuesday, with member Donald Blayney absent, to continue the discussion for the proposed San Rafael Inn at 1580 Lincoln Ave., the site of the former Sloat Garden Center.
While board members liked the Mediterranean-mission-style design of the hotel, the square footage exceeded what is allowed on the 17,700-square-foot lot without an approved variance.
City code allows for 60% lot coverage, which would equal a footprint of 11,035 square feet. The applicant was asking for what they thought was a 2% exception, but Krystle Rizzi, consulting planner on the project, said there was a miscalculation, and the proposed project actually equaled 75% lot coverage.
The board directed the applicant to redo the math and reduce the mass if needed.
“With that reduction in lot coverage it is hoped that maybe additional landscaping could occur especially on Lincoln (Avenue) side,” said Leslie Mendez, planning manager.
The lot is situated between Grand and Brookdale avenues on Lincoln. Highway 101 is behind the property on the east side. It’s been vacant for about two years.
The Villa Inn at 1600 Lincoln Ave. is across the street and owned by the parents of Marcello Fonio, who with his wife Stephanie, owns the proposed project site.
As part of the project the existing garden center would be demolished. The applicants proposed a four-story hotel standing 44-feet, 9-inches tall, with a tower feature reaching 54 feet, 9 inches, bicycle parking, landscaping, a cafe and a pet area.
The site would normally require at least 50 parking spaces, but a traffic study determined 38 parking spaces was sufficient for the hotel.
The board asked that the tower be shortened, as it exceeds the 54-foot height limit.
The board is also hoping that the architects could add more landscaping and articulation on the building walls to add to the pedestrian experience. A request to plant palm trees was denied. The board did approve an exception for the size and number of signs, including two 32-squarefoot blade signs and a 1.5-square-foot identification plaque.
Residents said they were concerned the hotel would be out of character with the neighborhood and said it could make traffic and parking worse.
“All the buildings on the east side of Lincoln Avenue are one or two stories, this is going to stick out like a sore thumb,” said Nina Murphy, cofounder and president of the Lincoln San Rafael Hill Neighborhood Association. “We would prefer actually to see a facelift to the Villa Inn as opposed to proposing another hotel right next door to the existing one.”
Residents also complained that the proposed building could create a tunnel-like pedestrian experience on Lincoln Avenue because it’s so close to the sidewalk.
Chairman Larry Paul said he thought the architectural team did a great job. “They’ve designed a very handsome project.”
“If they are going to be that close to the sidewalk, I think you want to have a little better relationship to the pedestrian experience,” he added.
“It seems like there needs to be a little more consideration of how it fits in with the neighborhood,” he said.