Greenwood Villagewill take final vote on limit

Dozens of families living in Greenwood Village hotels and motels will have to start looking for new homes if the City Council onMonday passes ameasure limiting a hotel stay to nomore than 30 days.

The city claims the ordinance is needed because hotels, which lack residential zoning, are not equipped to operate as longterm living facilities.

Hot plates and electric griddles pose a fire danger not only to those using them but to everyone else in the building, city leaders say.

“These hotels were never to be lived in,” Greenwood Village city attorney Tonya Haas Davidson said last week.

The city also points out that calls for police service are appreciably higher at the four hotels in town that permit people to live there.

CityCouncil approved the hotel stay limit on first reading last month. The restrictions wouldn’t apply to extended-stay hotels.

But those who have fallen on hard times and just need a little time to get back on their feet feel like they are under attack.

Tommy Southerland, who has lived in the Motel 6 at Arapahoe Road and South Boston Street with his family since the end of last year, said Greenwood Village’s measure goes too far.

“I think they’re picking on everybody when they should just be picking on a few people,” he said. “You can burn a hotel down with a cigarette during a one-night stay.”

Amie Mayhew, president and CEO of the Colorado Hotel and Lodging Association, said she’s never heard of another municipality in the state passing such an ordinance.