The saga of the proposed downtown Riverside hotel has kept me riveted, mostly because the opposition is kind of a head-scratcher. The eight-story Marriott would go up on a vacant lot near museums in a touristy zone off a freeway. What’s not to like?
Oh, you know: It’s too modern, it’s too tall, it would cast a shadow (we are apparently afraid of shadows now), it would block views because it’s, like, a building.
Among the critiques is that because the hotel would stand almost as tall as the 1913 First Congregational Church next door, motorists on the 91 Freeway would no longer be able to see the church’s bell tower.
It’s a lovely tower, but really? Maybe I’m out of step, but people hurtling along the freeway ought to keep their eyes on the road, not attempt to pick out local landmarks at 80 mph.
In fact, if drivers routinely turn their head to gaze at the church, blocking the view might make us all safer. (Does the state Office of Traffic Safety offer grants for hotel construction?)
My colleague David Downey is covering the saga admirably, including criticism from church members who say the scale of the 93-foot-tall hotel is “insane” and will “overwhelm” the area — even though it’s shorter than the 114-foot-tall church.
To be fair, most of the church is smaller than that. Maybe the hotel would overwhelm the area. But right now, the area is underwhelming — more on that in a moment.
The Planning Commission approved the hotel plans in April, the Cultural Heritage Board deadlocked the same month, and an appeal to the City Council was to be heard last Tuesday.
I decided to attend. I like city council meetings and hadn’t been to one yet in Riverside. Naturally, my first one was kind of a mess.
I showed up at 3 p.m., the scheduled time for the hearing, and had 15 minutes of downtime as regular business was wrapped up. I knew I should’ve brought a book.
With the hotel hearing up next, Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson called for a five-minute recess. More downtime.
Councilwoman Erin Edwards, in whose district the hotel would be built, said a few late emails on the topic had come in that she should read. She requested a longer break.
“How long?” asked MayorLock. Replied Edwards: “A half hour.”
Groans from the audience were audible. Council members, who like most of us might simply skim the emails while half-listening to the live testimony, weren’t thrilled either. But the request was granted.
With 30 minutes on my hands, I returned to my car for reading material, then decided to visit the hotel site on foot. It was only a couple of blocks away along Mission Inn Avenue.
The site in question has been a parking lot for more than 50 years. (So far no one has argued that that makes the parking lot historic.) It’s a block from the under-construction Cheech Art Museum, expected to draw visitors from all over, and opposite the Riverside Art Museum, which supports having a hotel there.
With a 91 Freeway exit two blocks to the east, the neighborhood is a gateway to Riverside, and not quite enticing. The first block has, on one side, a long-shuttered auto garage and a mortuary. So it’s a factual statement to say the area is a little dead.
A hotel seems perfect for the site, but what do I know? Only that in a lot of Inland Empire cities — Ontario comes to mind — officials would be cracking open bottles of Champagne if a name-brand hotel wanted to locate downtown.
Site review completed, I hoofed it back to the Council Chambers and read my newspaper. Finally, at 3:53 p.m., the meeting got underway — but not as expected.
A city planner went to the lectern to say that three written communications on the topic had come in. They numbered 54 pages, 128 pages and, gulp, 447 pages. The hearing was postponed until Oct. 12.
More groans were heard. I didn’t have much to show from my first Riverside council meeting other than getting some steps in. Also, I can’t imagine Edwards is excited about another 629 pages to read.
But wait, there’s more. Those late-breaking documents consist of an impacts assessment done for the developer, a response by the developer to all comments received to date and — what’s this? — an objection from a lawyer for the nearby Mission Inn.
The famed hotel claims its potential competitor is “too large” for its site — the Mission Inn thinks something is too large? — and “incompatible with its surroundings,” among other gripes.
In yet another development, the Marriott plan was revised last month to improve one of its signature features: the rooftop observation deck.
The deck was formerly confined to the extreme northwest corner of the U-shaped building, overlooking the intersection and the Congregational Church. Now it’s proposed to extend along more of the frontage facing Mission Inn Avenue.
That was a suggestion from Edwards and adopted by the developer, who reduced the number of rooms from 226 to 220 to do it. Basically the size of the deck will double.
“The intent is to help reduce the massing at the corner and offer more views,” Scott Watson, the city’s historic preservation officer, told me Friday.
Speaking of things to look at downtown, did you read that nutty story about the hotel guest at Riverside’s downtown Hyatt setting fire to his own room? Sprinklers went off in several rooms Aug. 16 and caused $100,000 in damage.
I don’t know if a future Marriott guest would be able to see that action from the observation deck. There are a lot of tall buildings in between.
brIEfly
It was tough to read that Brendan Brandt, the former Upland councilman, had died at 57 — my own age — while running a half-marathon. The witty but circumspect Brandt gave me a cautious interview at his last meeting in 2014. But a couple of years later, he saw me through the window of a restaurant as he walked by, came in and joined me, where he unspooled a lot of funny stories, all off the record of course. He was a good guy and fun to talk to. My best to his family.
David Allen writes Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, three sprints. Email dallen@scng.com, phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter.
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