The Woodstock Zoning Board of Appeals has denied several variances for a proposed 19-room hotel and cafe at 39 Mill Hill Road, citing the project’s scale. The proposed project at the site of the former Woodstock Automotive garage and Mobil station would have required a variance to construct a three-story structure where it was not allowed. Other required variances involved lot coverage and density.
“The applicant is requesting an increase in the number of allowable stories from two-and-a-half to a full three stories, which is an unprecedented variance. So, that one was an easy no,” ZBA chair Gordon Wemp said. “The applicant is additionally asking for more than double — actually, it was nearly triple — the allowable number of rooms, depending on size of the cafe. And that’s what the variable was here. They’re asking for 237 to 316 percent of what is allowed, which would be figured from six to eight hotel rooms. They wanted 19.”
The applicant contended 14 rooms were allowed under the current zoning. Wemp said that math didn’t work. “The minimum residential lot area of 10,000 square feet shall be increased by 1500 square feet for each guest room provided. So you’ve got to take that 10,000 right off the top,” he said.
In determining if the variances would have an adverse effect, the ZBA ruled the following: “The applicant’s proposed increase to three stories from the allowed two-and-a-half for the hotel would create a substantial impact on the physical conditions in the neighborhood with a structure that would be out of the scale of the surrounding buildings. The requested increase in allowed number of rooms from six to eight to 19 and the request for increased lot coverage would impact density traffic and noise in the neighborhood.”
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