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Council asks developers to return with traffic, parking and groundwater analyses for proposed 66,000 sq ft mixed‑use building
Summary
Developers presented a sketch plan for a 66,000 sq ft mixed‑use project at 50 South Millward featuring a 75‑space automated parking system and 67 hotel keys. Council raised concerns about automated parking reliability, queuing, groundwater depth and tree impacts and continued the sketch plan/CUP discussion to Aug. 4 to allow technical studies.
Planning staff introduced a sketch plan for a proposed large mixed‑use building at 50 South Millward: approximately 66,000 square feet with 67 hotel keys, roughly 10 residential units (including deed‑restricted mitigation units), an automated underground parking system (roughly 75 spaces), and street frontage modifications. Staff emphasized this is a sketch‑plan stage review and recommended several conditions, including a parking study, traffic impact study, WUI (wildland‑urban interface) review and an arborist analysis of spruce trees on the adjacent Wort property.
Caitlin Page (staff) summarized the design and flagged that the town's parking rules do not currently address automated parking technologies: "Automated spaces must meet the intent of LDR parking standards," she said, adding that the town would require a parking study analyzing vehicle types, queuing and ADA clearances.
Developers (Sean Gilbert) and architects explained the automated system and operations. The applicants said the valet‑driven system can be adapted for larger vehicles, is EV‑capable and can charge cars while stored. An architect commented that the average retrieval time claimed by the vendor was about three minutes in their example.
Council raised multiple technical concerns: what queuing and staging would be required so vehicles would not back into public right‑of‑way, the consequences if a lift or system fails, the depth of excavation relative to groundwater, and potential pruning impact on mature spruce trees on an adjacent parcel. Several council members asked for a traffic study consistent with joint transportation guidelines and for detailed parking/queuing analysis and valet operations plans.
Outcome: The council unanimously continued the sketch plan and conditional‑use preliminary discussion to August 4 to allow the applicant to provide the requested technical studies and refined plans.
What to watch: the development team must return with a parking/queuing analysis, a traffic impact study that evaluates intersection impacts and off‑site queuing, an arborist report quantifying pruning impacts on adjacent trees, and a preliminary WUI and geotechnical report addressing excavation depth and groundwater.
