Published: November 05, 2009 12:00 am      

Lakefront Motel denied hotel status

By JIM AUSTIN
Cooperstown Crier

The board of trustees voted last week to deny a special use permit to the Lakefront Motel to change its status from a motel to a hotel.

A public hearing on the special use permit application was held a month earlier. The motel’s owner Paula Wikoff had applied for a special use permit to operate as a hotel — a permitted use in the residential district where the Lakefront is located.

Currently the motel is considered to be a pre-existing, non-conforming entity within a residential district.

Originally the property was zoned commercial, but was changed years ago to a residential district.

Wikoff has plans to make changes to the motel, but with its current status it would require a use variance which is almost impossible to obtain, according to Village Attorney Martin Tillapaugh.

Tillapaugh explained that the issue came up when Wikoff applied to make changes to her buildings. ``It is clear that as a preexisting, non-conforming entity it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to expand,’’ he said.

A hotel is permitted in the residential district by special permit granted by the trustees.

To expand that, Wikoff would ``still have to jump through a number of hoops,’’ he said.

Granting the special use permit would allow Wikoff to take the next step. ``She can’t do any of it if it stays a motel,’’ he said.

Wikoff pointed out that it was Tillapaugh who suggested applying for the special use permit.

``It was a commercial property and why my father and grandfather didn’t fight it [a change to residential zone] I don’t understand,’’ Wikoff said.

Charles Hyman, a neighbor of the motel said it is a case of the interests of a commercial enterprise versus residential interests. How the trustees vote, he said, ``sets the tone for whose priorities are being protected — commercial enterprise or residential property owners.’’

He said if the trustees grant the special use permit it will ``open the door to a variety of changes whether it happens now or in the future.’’

Wikoff could not be reached this week for comment about the decision.