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Published on 10/13/1999 All articles from this issue

Progress for Marriott's at 4 Seasons location

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Special to the Town Crier

Neighbors attended a hearing and offered encouragement for the project. And a new hotel's plans moved forward.

The Los Altos Planning Commission held a public hearing recently to review plans for the proposed 190-room Marriott Courtyard hotel for the corner of El Camino Real and Los Altos Avenue, site of the current Four Seasons Motor Inn.

"Complete plans haven't yet been submitted," said David Kornfield, assistant planner with the city of Los Altos.

But the developers - who include Los Altos residents Oliver Lin and John Challas - have "made significant effort and changed everything" from an earlier hearing, Kornfield said.

The hotel now faces El Camino Real rather than Los Altos Avenue as it did in earlier plans.

"They re-engineered everything," Kornfield said.

Some issues remain regarding the scale of the buildings and parking. The developers have been asked to reduce the size of the project as it relates to nearby residents, Kornfield said.

And the applicants "were proposing fewer (parking) spaces than city code," Kornfield said.

A representative from a neighboring senior-care facility attended the hearing and voiced concerns about the third story of the hotel "that would be facing them."

Because final drawings were not complete at the time of the Sept. 29 hearing, it was continued to a planning commission meeting on Oct. 21.

The hotel will have an "eclectic California Santa Barbara design theme," Kornfield said.

With a 67 percent occupancy in 190 rooms at an 8 percent transient occupancy tax, the city could receive about $438,000 in annual revenue from the new hotel.