Board approves a five-story downtown hotel 3-2, with the chairman voting no

What the sources say

• ✓ Verified

  COA-2025-192 considered "the new construction of a five-story hotel" on all of Block 143, Plemons Addition (S.E. 10th Ave. and Buchanan St.; applicant "Geospatial Data, Inc. for RILLO INVESTMENTS LLC"), with variances for "fencing standards, tree species, and building setbacks and placement." The planner said all documents had been reviewed and were "ready for consideration"; the minutes do not state a staff recommendation. The design engineer, the property owners and developers, and their legal counsel spoke in support. Vice Chairman Wesley Knapp moved approval, seconded by Gary Jennings; "the motion passed 3-2, Chairman Bliss and Board Member Bulla voted in opposition." The minutes do not record the reasons for the no votes. ^[1]

• ✓ Verified

  In the 17 sets of board minutes posted on CivicClerk from March 12, 2020 to March 25, 2026, the board decided 19 certificate-of-appropriateness cases and approved 18 of them; it denied one (Happy State Bank's sign request, January 2021). Three decisions were split: the Happy State Bank denial (3-1-1), the Santa Fe Depot pavilion (5-1, August 2022) and the downtown hotel (3-2, March 2026). Two other approvals were recorded with one member abstaining (January and April 2025). ^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][1]}

  Cases

  19

  Approved

  18

  Denied

  1

  Split votes

  3

• ✓ Verified

  In those cases the minutes state a staff recommendation 16 times: approval in 14 cases, all approved, and denial in two. The board followed staff on the Happy State Bank denial and went against staff on the 2021 Sharpened Iron Studios design, approving it 5-0. The minutes state no staff recommendation for the Potter County Courthouse (2020), the Polk Street streetscape (2022) and the hotel (2026), all approved. ^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][1]}

  Staff recommendations stated

  16

  Board followed

  15

• ✓ Verified

  The posted minutes are not a complete record: later minutes approve sets for October 28, 2019, April 21, 2022 and November 14, 2024 that are not posted, and a January 9, 2025 meeting was canceled. CivicClerk files the June 18, 2024 minutes under the November 14, 2024 meeting and a copy of the August 10, 2023 minutes under June 18, 2024. ^{[2][8][12][11][10]}