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Planning commission approves Tulip Hotel 31-room expansion, grants two site waivers
Summary
Commission approved a site plan and two waivers for a 31-room addition to the Tulip Hotel at 61 E. Seventh St.; the project will reduce on-site parking from 88 to 76 spaces and rely on a shared-parking agreement for up to 10 off-site spaces. The commission approved the application by roll call vote.
The Holland City Planning Commission on Aug. 12 approved a site plan and two waivers for a 31-room addition to the Tulip Hotel at 61 East Seventh Street.
Applicant representatives told the commission the existing five-story hotel has 56 guest rooms. The proposed expansion would add 31 rooms and internal renovations; project proponents said the full project, including renovation of the existing rooms, represents a total development cost of about $9,000,000.
Civil engineer John Tempus, representing 6PM Hospitality, told the commission the expansion would be built westward into the existing surface parking area. The project will demolish 30 existing parking spaces and reconfigure the lot to add 18 new spaces, yielding a net on-site loss of 12 parking stalls and an on-site total of 76 spaces when construction is complete. The applicant said a shared-parking agreement with the adjacent EV Construction lot would provide access to 10 spaces off-site; with that agreement staff calculated the project meets code through the shared arrangement.
"With the shared parking agreement, when you account for the 20% reduction that that would provide, we would actually exceed that number," the applicant said regarding the parking calculations. Staff also noted that Hilton (the brand franchise group) requires one parking spot per guest room and the city's numerical requirement is 1.1 spaces per room.
Staff recommended approval of the site plan and two waivers: (1) a west-side yard setback waiver and (2) a waiver for upper-story window spacing. Planning staff said the waivers were consistent with past waivers granted nearby and recommended approval subject to the shared-parking agreement and standard site plan conditions.
Commission discussion touched on market demand and risk: Peter Buickama, identified as a hospitality partner with the applicant, said Tulip typically runs about 68% occupancy and that downtown Holland is a seasonal market with peak months reaching high occupancy. He said the 31-room addition was sized to avoid additional stairs or elevator shafts required by fire and building code if the addition were taller, and that the renovation and expansion together would modernize the property and increase its economic contribution to downtown.
Commissioners asked what would happen if the new rooms did not fill; staff replied that business success is not regulated by the planning commission and that site maintenance and site conditions would remain subject to code regardless of market performance.
Public comment was opened and closed with no speakers. The commission took a roll-call vote on the combined approval (site plan plus waivers). The recorded roll-call showed all voting members in favor: DeBlock, Mayor Box, Commissioner Miller, Commissioner Orme, Commissioner Raymond, Vice Chair Bosch, Commissioner Boyle, and Chair Anderson.
The planning commission approved the site plan and waivers; staff will condition final approvals on execution of the shared-parking agreement and typical site-plan permit conditions.
