A Huge Hotel Complex on Winslow Way?

An 87 room hotel and events facility is being planned in downtown Winslow on a site zoned for a 15-room inn.The site is on Winslow Way between Madison and Wood Avenues, where the Children’s Hospital Bargain Boutique Thrift Store and an adjacent empty lot are now. It is surrounded on all sides by homes and condos, including four senior living residences.
The plans for this wedding-and-conference center complex include a 100-seat music performance hall with balcony, a private outdoor lawn and bandshell for weddings and events, a restaurant, bar, and spa.
 
If built, this hotel complex will:
--produce significant traffic congestion on Winslow Way and in the surrounding neighborhood, generating 727 additional vehicle trips per day as well as the many service deliveries (food, beverage, laundry, etc) required to service a hotel of this size
--generate significant noise from outdoor events, disrupting neighbors
--add to parking problems in downtown Winslow because, when operating at peak capacity, the facility will lack adequate parking.

The Planning Commission denied the application, saying:
“The project as proposed (87 guest rooms, meeting rooms, conference room, restaurant, bar, spa, outdoor bandshell) is sized and designed as a full service event center to meet the needs of persons from outside the community who seek to hold large events in Winslow. It is almost 6 times larger than the closest permitted use in the Core – a 15-room inn – and also includes a conference center, meeting rooms, a restaurant, a bar, a spa and an outdoor bandshell for entertainment events. As proposed, the project is out of scale with the Core, not compatible with its surroundings (residential to the west, south and north and residential/office/retail to the east) and inconsistent with major elements of the Comp Plan and Winslow Master Plan. Its purpose and function are to serve visitors, which will be at the expense of Island residents. It does not maintain Winslow’s small town atmosphere, and will be materially detrimental to uses and/or property in the vicinity of the project. The project’s noise resulting from the proposed uses, and its estimated generation of 727 vehicle trips per day, will overwhelm the
Core and do irreparable harm to Winslow’s small town atmosphere and to the residential communitiesand office/retail adjacent to and in the vicinity of the project site.”


If approved by the Hearing Examiner, this project will set a precedent for all future development in Winslow, enabling future developments of this size.

On January 23, 2020, the city’s Hearing Examiner will make a determination about whether or not this project can proceed.

Please help us fund the lawyer, traffic consultant and noise consultant who will represent citizens’ concerns before the Hearing Examiner. With your help, we can prevent this hotel from disrupting the small town feel of Winslow and setting a precedent for all future development in our downtown.

Please chip in today to help keep our community the community we love.
https://www.gofundme.com/fight-the-big-hotel-planned-for-winslow

Thank you!