City Council - workshop

Meeting to order at 5 p.m. As far as we know. Looks like we have roll call. Sorry.

Thank you. We do have a quorum. However, we do have three commissioners that are out. Como, Knight, and Haskins are all absent tonight. Back to you.

Okay. And it looks like we have quorum as well for city council. Moving on to citizen comments. I don't believe we have any comments. And then now new business discussion regarding Unified Development Code update. Staff, would you kindly lead us in that?

Thank you, Mayor. Good afternoon, everyone. So starting off with the workshop format, these workshops are designed to discuss one or two topics to allow for a deeper discussion that staff can then take back to our consultants. Goodness. Having a little bit of connection issue.

No worries.

All right, here we go. Okay, so. Tonight's goal is to craft hotel and lodging standards that encourage high-quality development while recognizing the economic feasibility of new hotel investments here in Pearland. Currently, hotels are reviewed with the same commercial development standards as an office or a retail building, and this topic might have sounded familiar to some of y'all, and that's because that's true. We have discussed hotel standards in three previous workshops. However, we were working under a different format We were talking about four to six topics in one unified development code workshop, so the discussions weren't as deeper as we are wanting to focus those discussions on today. And so I do want to recognize the comments that were received during those workshops. The agreement for higher quality hotel standards that fit the version of Pearland's growth were absolutely stated, as well as new standards only being applicable to new hotel developments. There were also comments that we should not require a new conditional use permit when a change of ownership occurs in an existing hotel. And we'd like to see a happy medium with parallel standards while allowing the market to make their own decisions. We were also suggested to review the City of Frisco and the City of Grapevine hotel standards as inspiration. And then finally, we should include definitions, new definitions, minimum number of rooms, prohibiting motels, requiring a generator, and prohibiting hourly hotels. And so, to kick off, the thoughts and questions to think about during the presentation tonight is if hotel standards are created, would there be an opportunity to allow certain hotel types by right in a specific zoning district? When would the new regulations be applicable for new construction or for redevelopment? And what standards should be created for the different styles of hotels? And should the UDC update combine all hotel subtypes into one definition or provide a definition of each hotel? Give it a minute. Let you all ponder on these questions. Okay, I do apologize. I don't know what's happening, but let's start off with looking at our current hotel data here in Pearland. Pearland currently has 13 hotels. All of these hotels are considered limited service hotels. We have a total of 1,064 rooms with an average of 82 rooms all built between 1995 and 2025. Our lowest room count is 45 at the Best Western Pearland Inn off of Main Street, and our highest room count is 137, the Hilton Garden Inn off of Shadow Creek. Continuing on, let's look at our current hotel standards. Today we have two definitions. We have extended stay hotel motel, which is for long-term occupancy and customary hotel services for those longer stays. We also have hotel motel for temporary lodging on a daily rate basis. We have a parking requirement of one space for one sleeping room, plus one space for each 200 square feet of commercial floor area. And then we have our non-residential land use matrix. You can see that we have seven zoning districts that require a conditional use permit. Note for anyone here in the audience or watching from home, the blank square equals prohibited, so not allowed. And so currently we have no hotels in the city of Pearland that are allowed by right. And on the screen is our current short term rental standards. While both hotel and short term rental provide overnight accommodation, they function and operate differently. A short term rental is the temporary rental of a residential dwelling, whereas a hotel is a commercial lodging establishment with different operational characteristics. Staff wanted to share this information so we can focus our discussion today on commercial hotels. So the feedback we received was to review the city of Frisco and the city of Grapevine to use as an inspiration for possible UDC standards. And so the city of Frisco has adult motel, residence hotel, motel, and hotel defined. An adult hotel requires a conditional use permit in one industrial zoning district plus a multi-step approval process and prohibited in all other zoning districts. Motel and residence hotel are permitted by right in three commercial zoning districts with supplementary standards, and hotel is permitted by right in six zoning districts. So let's look at those supplementary standards for motel. They require staff onsite 24 hours a day. They also require three amenities out of the eight below, a full service restaurant, and a minimum separation of 1,500 feet from any other hotel. Hold please. sorry about that everyone okay so the city of Frisco also has residents hotel supplementary standards meaning they do not allow more than 23 units per acre you need to have a laundry facility for guests on-site staff 24 hours a day and you need to have three out of the ten Amenities listed below and then you need to be set back at least a hundred feet from any residential zoning district Have 15% of the lot area as open space again that minimum separation of 1500 feet from any other hotel and you need to have 50% of the rooms must contain kitchen facilities and the residence hotel is limited to five roadways within the city of Frisco and So let's look at the city of Grapevine. So we have definitions for adult motel, boutique hotel, and hotel motel. Adult motel requires a conditional use permit in one industrial zoning district plus a multi-step approval process and prohibited in other zoning districts. Hotel motel requires supplementary standards plus a conditional use permit in four zoning districts. And boutique hotels require a conditional use permit in four zoning districts. And they also have full service motel hotel that includes a dining room, retail, and office space with additional SUPPLEMENTARY STANDARDS BEING ALLOWED BY RIGHT IN ONE COMMERCIAL ZONING DISTRICT. AND SO THOSE SUPPLEMENTARY STANDARDS ARE THAT WE HAVE A MINIMUM ROOM SIZE OF 330 SQUARE FEET, ON-SITE STAFF IS REQUIRED FOR 24 HOURS A DAY, MINIMUM ROOM COUNT OF 200 ROOMS, A SWIMMING POOL OF A MINIMUM 1,000 SQUARE FEET, AND IF YOU'RE GOING TO DEVELOP MULTIPLE BUILDINGS, THE BUILDINGS MUST BE CONJOINED. Continuing on, they require at least four out of the seven items below for amenities, meaning they need a full-service restaurant, a warming kitchen, 4,000 square feet of conference room space, an exercise facility, a spa of 1,000 square feet, outdoor flex space of 2,500 square feet, or outdoor rec space, 2,500 square feet. So I do want to mention that even though there are supplementary standards, some of the definitions in the city of Grapevine also have supplementary standards kind of baked into them. Meaning when we look at Boutique Hotel, you can see that there is a minimum room count of 13 to 125. And then also in Hotel Motel, we also have 13 or more guest rooms while requiring GUEST ROOMS BEING EXCLUSIVELY ACCESSED THROUGH INTERIOR CORRIDORS. SO THERE IS THAT OPPORTUNITY TO BAKE IN SUPPLEMENTARY STANDARDS INTO THE DEFINITIONS. AND SO NOW THAT WE'VE LOOKED AT THE CITY OF FRISCO AND THE CITY OF GRAPEVINE AS REQUESTED AND WE DRAFTED SOME POSSIBLE UDC LANGUAGE. SO TODAY THE UNIFIED DEVELOPMENT CODE HAS TWO DEFINITIONS IN CHAPTER 5. ONE AGAIN FOR EXTENDED STAY AND ONE FOR HOTEL MOTEL. Possible revisions to the Unified Development Code include having one overall definition of hotel, but separating the hotel subtypes in Chapter 2, which is our zoning regulations chapter. Examples will be provided in the upcoming slides. We want to continue to recognize short-term rentals and adding a definition to adult hotels stating that they are prohibited in all zoning districts. I would like to mention that in Chapter 5 of the Code of Ordinances, it discusses adult entertainment, sexually oriented businesses, and defines adult hotels, making it an offense if a sexually oriented business is operated in the city limits without proper permits. Adding a definition to Chapter 5 of the Unified Development Code could reinforce the opinions that were expressed at previous workshops on this topic. Let's look at the possible UDC language for hotel subtypes. We have boutique hotel. We have a room count of 13 to 50 proposed, wanting high-quality design and being developed on more of a smaller scale. We have pedestrian-oriented entrances and rooms to be accessed through interior corridors. And selecting two out of the four listed amenities, allowing the market to decide the square footages of those selected amenities. next is limited service hotel we have a room count of more than 75 guest rooms no requirement for a full service restaurant and selecting three out of the eight amenities list under the supplementary standards and then full service hotel is a room count range of more than 120 rooms must have a full service restaurant that seats at least 35 people a 5,000 square foot conference center, and four out of the eight amenities from the list in the supplementary standards. Next is extended stay hotels, that long-term occupancy hotel. A room count range of either 75 rooms or 23 rooms per acre. We are requesting feedback on this. requiring onsite laundry service, onsite management 24-7, accessed via interior corridors, and three out of the seven amenities of the noted amenities in the supplementary standards. And then finally, motel. We have a room count of more than 120 rooms, can be accessed from exterior corridors, And supplementary standards include guest rooms being connected via paved walkway or a parking lot for onsite management. Two out of six amenities are required in the list. And then I wanted to expand on the statement at the bottom of the definition of motel. It states, these standards will apply to all motels, whether existing, expanding, redeveloping, or undergoing a change of ownership. So this means that if ownership changes and a motel did not have any amenities in that list on the right side of the screen, the new owner would be required to upgrade prior to receiving an occupancy permit. So through the UDC update process, a stakeholder committee was formed in late 2024. The committee is comprised of community members suggested by both city council and staff to provide feedback on this project and topics discussed. We had a meeting on July 9th and there were 11 committee members present. And so I'm going to share the feedback as I noted, not in the slides that is present on the screen right now, but Since we did have the meeting after we had to post the agenda. Okay, let's see how long my screen can last. Some of the feedback that was provided was we'd like to see a conference room space better defined, as well as there was a concern by allowing any hotel by right. However, there was another committee member that stated that one hotel type should be allowed by right in at least one zoning district in Pearland. And it was recommended that we separate the definitions and land use categories for each hotel type and not have one definition. Also adding in requirements into the supplementary standards, such as accessibility standards requiring a port-a-cochet, for example, and requiring 360 beautification. There was a comment that stated a higher room count could alter the small town character of Paraland, and that Paraland should be a leader in hotel standards. So wanting to conclude with showcasing those thoughts and questions on the slide again, and that concludes staff report. Thank you, Mayor. I'll pass it back to you.

Thank you for that. NC, I'll turn it over to you for any comments or discussion items.

Thank you. Trey, you want to start?

Thank you, Katya, for that. Did I hear you say that there would be an amount of time given to current hotels to come up to these standards once implemented? I thought I heard that correctly.

So under Motel, if they are undergoing a change of ownership or redevelopment, that is the only hotel right now that we have standards drafted to require upgrades.

Okay. So then my question would be, do all of our current hotel, motel, all of our current places, do they fit under one of the proposed categories? Or do we have any that lie in between and therefore might have to choose which one they did and offer a grandfathering?

Yeah, that's a great comment. And what I wanted to share on the screen was our current hotel data. As you can see, what I stated in our possible UDC language was minimum room count or room count range. And if some of these hotels were identified as limited service or motel, they may or may not fit that minimum room count requirement. So I would say that they would be considered legal nonconforming.

That's all I have right now.

Thank you. Commissioner Hendricks here. My primary concern is who's going to manage the hotel. Obviously, we know of Courtyard Hilton, Best Western. I'm not sure if anything was mentioned. Other than a boutique hotel that's family-owned, bed and breakfast, something like that, my biggest concern is a hotel losing their credentials with the big names because they're not maintaining the hotel. Do we have something in there for that?

I would say at this time we do not, and that would be a difficult thing to regulate. However, we'll continue to work with Design Workshop, and we're also open to suggestions from P&Z and Council.

I think there's got to be a way that, you know, if Best Western, they take away the name Best Western because the owner, the franchisee is not maintaining the standards of Best Western. And I know that's really hard to regulate, but then the hotel kind of falls apart. It's starting to look real bad. My concern is the upkeep and the maintenance and keeping an asset looking good and, you know, having value. But other than that, my only other concern is when we make the landowner, can you go back to the list of things they'd have to add in? Is it four or three?

And so I would like to state that, I'm sorry to interrupt you, that the motel subtype is the only hotel that we have the, I guess, the possible UDC language that the supplementary standards would apply to all motels, whether existing, expanding, redeveloping, or undergoing a change of ownership.

So is there something in place where if that motel is existing and there's an ownership change, is there any possibility that those items couldn't be met? Like I imagine they could with the business center meeting room, but I know they couldn't just go put in a pool. The plumbing's probably not there. So I'm just wondering, I guess a lobby guest reception area, I assumed all motels had that. We have motels that don't?

I would say a couple of things before we get into details on specific motels. I think the goal today would be to get consensus on if... Two of the following is appropriate. Should the items or the standards be changed? Is the lobby guest reception too low of a bar to be considered? And it is that type of feedback that we're looking for. And then also I would say it is also about the trigger. Is a change of ownership something that we as a community want to use to enforce these new standards? I mean, that's something staff would want to hear consensus from.

Well, I think that having, yes, maintain on-site management 24 hours a day would require a lobby guest reception area. That should be an automatic. And then, yeah, I think, I don't see why they couldn't put a business center or a meeting room in. They could remodel a room or two. So, yeah, I'm in favor of that. And that's it.

Thank you, Commissioner Henry. I guess one of my questions was we looked at Frisco and we looked at Grapevine. Was there any data or any available Sugar Land and League City comes to mind that are approximate and that may have the same issues that we do? So I guess I was hoping to see something local because I don't know that Grapevine is really that I mean, they have a, what's it called? There's one in Clear Lake now. Some huge hotels, and they have that big fun place for the kids, Great Wolf Lodge. Yeah, so, I mean, they're in a completely different league than we are, I think. That's my personal opinion. I've been there a few times. I guess for us, I'm not in love with motels. Wouldn't care if we didn't have motels available. And for the boutique, for possible UDC language in boutiques, the last sentence there under definition, boutique hotels feature elevated design, unique decor, and enhanced service levels. If we're talking about change of ownership, or losing a flag for a major hotel, how do we monitor that they keep the elevated design, unique decor, and enhanced service levels? How do we monitor that? How do we... I can't imagine a code enforcement officer being given the duties to monitor that. So that was just one thing I... I thought of, as we talked about, also with a hotel with a certain flag in today's world, and they don't measure up and they lose the flag. We have the same issue with gas stations, I think, throughout the city, right? I mean, it's a concern for all of us. What do we do there? And whatever we do there, can we do it for hotels? I don't know. But I'll leave it at that. Thank you.

Okay, the only thing that I was looking at was the language under the boutique hotel. You had put under there that changing it from 13 to 50 guest rooms. But when I went and wrote out the notes under grapevine under boutique hotel, they have down a minimum of 13 guest rooms, but not to exceed 125. So I just kind of wanted to understand how we came up with that number 50. I'm sure there was a reason behind it. So that's my only question.

That's a great question. And expanding on that definition, the local character architectural aesthetics in small scale had us believing that a 13 to 50 guest room count really enhanced that boutique hotel and allowed that definition to come to fruition if we ever did receive a boutique hotel here in the city.

That totally makes sense. Thank you. We'll turn it back over to you, Mayor.

Thank you. Council. Council Member Cade.

Do you want to go? Do we have any motels under this in Pearland currently, the way y'all have it defined?

The Best Western Pearland Inn, with the 45-room count, those rooms are accessed through exterior hallway that face the parking lot, which meets the definition of motel.

The definition, you have 120 rooms.

Right, it's definitely a cherry-picking of a certain section, identifying that the rooms are accessed through the exterior.

Right, it's just the definition says more than 120 rooms. And then, is there, we're not going to use the term adult hotel, are we?

I don't love that. So the term adult hotel is intentionally used in order to prohibit them. So adult hotel is actually a state definition related to hourly room rates, and that's something that's not allowed.

Thank you. Thank you for that. Okay. And I had one other thing, but I've lost it. Oh, short-term rental standards. Can we come back to that? It's included on here, so I thought I would ask about it.

So it's only on here because it is a type of residential, like a sleeping rental arrangement. However, the purpose was just more to show that it's here is more to show the definition and that it's separately regulated. But if you have a comment, feel free.

Just safety, like fire alarms, smoke alarms, whatever, things like that. Are those required? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. That's the other thing I wanted to know. Appreciate it.

Council Member Byron.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a few quick comments. One on the boutique hotels. I like the 13 to 50 range. I think that makes sense. There's not going to be very many places that something like that would be desired to be built in our community anyway. I'm thinking probably more in the Old Town area once we go through the revitalization plan. So I like that. As far as new standards being applied on a change of ownership, I do have concern with that language. I don't think we can really force a business owner to have to remodel their entire business or add a bunch of amenities simply because they wanted to sell their business. And I think if we do that, then that's essentially the government coming in and Restricting their ability to sell their business because now somebody's got to think I'm gonna buy this hotel or X number of dollars and I'm gonna have to spend X number of dollars to add things to it that they don't already have It's one thing to have regulations when you're building something new It's another thing to have regulations when it changes ownership. So I would I would not be in favor of putting a requirement just based on the fact that I sold my business and or I wanted to buy a business, I think that we would be artificially restricting it. Grandfathering is something that I think we definitely need to consider. And we talked about, in a different context, businesses that remodel or have to do repairs from damage or something like that, having a percentage of that remodel trigger updating to modern standards. I think we should apply that here as well, rather than just create UDC language and then tell everybody that doesn't currently match it, you've gotta update or be a legal nonconformity. I think we should consider some of that as well, putting some triggers in place. You've gotta go in and do it. If you're gonna take on a remodel and it's gonna exceed, say, 50%, then you're gonna have to do these other things as well. There's something to consider there. One thing that I wanna be careful with as we create this language, and really overall, is when we moved here over 20 years ago, the acronym was Pearland's the biggest small town in Texas. And a lot of that biggest small town in Texas is the personality and character of the community. Part of that is not having a heavy-handed government that's coming in and just regulating the fire out of everybody. So I want to be careful that we balance doing what's good for the long term of our community as far as encouraging and supporting the continued growth but not getting in the way of the market or changing the personality of our community at the same time. So, just a perspective to keep in mind when we talk about these kind of regulations. Maintaining that personality and that small town feel I know is important to nearly every resident that I talk to. And so, not just putting regulations in that requires to have major metropolitan hotels or nothing, So I want to be careful. And then finally, on the topic of losing their flag, and I would defer to Member Patel. This is his area of expertise. I don't know that we could ever write UDC language or zoning language that would prevent someone from losing their flag, much less want to be us that's going in and deciding what they can and can't do to maintain that, other than our normal zoning regulations that we have in place now where you have landscaping requirements and parking requirements and you can't let your building just fall apart from the exterior, we can deal with that from our code enforcement side, but the requirements that Hampton Inn puts on somebody to maintain in Hampton Inn, I don't know how we would ever even attempt to want to try to fold that into our operations. And so... Last idea, I didn't hear it said here, or maybe it was, but we kind of got blown past. Would we consider kind of zoning the community like a hotel overlay district? We said these types of hotels in this area, these types of hotels in that area. Then you could go in and say in this area we would have boutique hotels, but maybe we wouldn't have boutique hotels over off of 288. Just something to think about as well.

Mayor, if I may respond to that real quick. Absolutely. Yeah, so a goal of staff's would be that if we adopt supplemental standards, that we would find a zoning category, maybe one or more, that certain products would be allowed by right. So I'm just saying if we adopt these standards, if you meet those standards, you're allowed by right around BP-288, for example, or boutique in Old Town area, just to say those examples.

Any other questions, customer partners? Okay. Mayor Pro Tem Chavarria.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you so much for the presentation. I only have one question. So have we shared this report with any current hotelers? Because this impacts them, and I would like to have their feedback. Thank you.

Council Member Fernandez.

Thank you, Mayor. Just two comments. On page, I think it's 14 is what I'm looking at, City of Frisco Motel Standards. Can you, at the very letter D, the very end where it says, or residence, hotel, property. What is that?

Member Fernandez, am I on the right slide?

Yes. Okay.

Last one.

Yeah, residence, hotel, property. Yeah, so residence, hotel, property is a hotel type where you stay for longer periods of time. Extended stay, thank you. So they call it a residence? Yes, sir. Okay.

All right, thank you. And then the last thing is I would agree with Council Member Byram regarding if a new owner comes in, being careful what we do, what we require. You know, I agree that I think we need to be a little careful with that. Thank you.

Mr. Any other questions, comments? Council Member Patel.

Council Member Patel Thank you, Mayor. I do appreciate that, Harry, for letting me speak. Just some feedback. So, you know, when I look at your, I wish you would have done a diagram of laying out boutique, limited service, extended stay, full service, motel, and then putting boxes to show what you're comparing to, okay? And kind of do comparison side by side. Your boutique is less, in my mind, in that world space of hotels, boutique hotels are elevated, right? And one comes to mind in Houston. It's called the St. Augustine, if you've heard of it. Beautiful boutique hotel. Great bar, great restaurant, just a great atmosphere. You do not... So you're telling them they have to meet two of the four items. Fitness center, you're not defining it. It could be 300 square foot or it could be 600 square foot. But I would say in the boutique hotel, the uniqueness of a boutique hotel is the vibe, right? Which is the bar, the restaurant. So it's a must. I would say it's a must, not an option, right? Because when you look at your full-service hotel, I think you're putting in more, I guess, requirements, because this is but a full-service restaurant serving three meals a day, right? That's more rigorous than the boutique hotel. And it's just in my mind, okay? And let me go back real quick, Mayor, and explain why this process was important to me If you go back to slide nine, when we originally, when Pearland in 1995 built Mr. Das, if some of you may know Mr. Das, good man, built the first motel in the Best Western, the market wasn't proven. There was nothing in Pearland. And so when Mr. Das took the risk and built it and proved that the market can work, We followed in 2003, and as you can see, between 2003 and 2010, or 11, in 11 years, or 10 years, my math is off, sorry, eight years, almost 10 hotels got built because he had proven that market. Now, Hilton Garden Inn, the only reason, and if some of you may remember this, I know Henry probably has better insight than I do, was we were getting a lot of these small 60, 70 room hotels, motels. So the city, Mayor Reed, and I believe former Mayor Cole was on that council, decided we wanted to elevate ourself. And so, they approached a group that developed the Hilton Garden Inn, and they actually got a significant incentive to build that hotel, almost $1.3 million, I believe. And they weren't going to do that property because the market wasn't proven. So, we said, no, we believe that it will be successful, but we will put our money where our mouth is, and we gave them an incentive. So Hilton Garden Inn got built, and because of that, the courtyard got built. And I think you may be off. The Hilton Garden Inn was built before 08, I felt. Henry, am I wrong? Maybe 07?

It was beginning construction. That hurricane, a tornado came through and took out the top floor.

You're right. Sorry. So I think the market got proven. So let me kind of explain my thought process here. I am certainly not asking to, I agree with the council that we shouldn't force Best Western to, they should be grandfathered in, okay?

That's not fair to any of these property owners.

I think the idea is here, if you continue to allow building these smaller hotels, you will never be able to financially, self-sufficiently support a full-service hotel in a complex that we are trying to build behind Bass Pro Shop. That is the idea, is to say, look, if you continue to build an 80-room, 90-room, 100-room hotel, and if you're trying to build a full-service conference space, the numbers won't work, and we will have to pony up a lot more money in order for the numbers to pencil out.

And that's just reality.

In today's market, that residence in that you're seeing in 96 rooms, that 96 rooms probably cost about $150,000 a door per room. You're talking about $15 million. And that's a stick build, four stories. So the idea was to say, look, I think we have enough economical hotels in our market, but we want to do something bigger and better and upgrade with a larger conference space, with a larger amount of rooms. And there is a madness to the amount of rooms and the amount of conference space. There's a math behind it. So if you build 300 rooms, they may come back and say you need about 30,000 square foot of conference space. And so I think that was the idea to say, look, how do we help self-fund the full-service hotel and limit these small hotels that keep eating into the business model? And that was the idea behind this whole process. You know, as much as we are, I'm not against the boutique hotels, I am against lower-end hotels. Now, the other flip side, I'm sorry, Mayor, I'm taking a little longer, but I want you to kind of put things in perspective. We have some hotels like the La Quinta, the Candlewood Suites. I believe Tracy's still here. I don't know if Tracy, oh, there she is. And Tracy, if you don't mind, I'm going to ask you this question on the podium so you can explain to counsel. Some of these hotels have not been paying the city taxes they collect on time, yes. And I don't know if we're still having that problem, but Tracy, am I misspeaking when I say some, in the past, we've had hotel owners that were not paying the taxes for the city hot tax on time.

If you could just, this is me, for the general purposes of the discussion and then those who are watching, who you are and your role, just to reiterate that, if you could.

Yes, Tracy Rohrabacher, Executive Director for Visit Pearland. We're a city department that manages the Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund, so we are funded completely by the revenues that come in from the 13 properties. It is a correct statement to say that over the years we have had issue collecting payment from a handful of hoteliers, but we have successfully collected the dollars. Between our finance team and our legal team, we have reinforced the policy, and reminded owners of the penalties involved in not remitting. Thank you for that.

Sorry. And my point in making that, thank you, Tracy, I appreciate that, is that these hotels that you have currently, even though they're franchise hotels, they are struggling. So if you keep adding more of this 75-room hotel, motel, it's not going to help our cause, and it's going to deteriorate and degrade further onto these properties. So end of the day, I go to Seabrook and Lake Jackson quite a bit. When I go through Nassau Road 1, many of you have gone to Kima, There was a Holiday Inn Express a long time ago, which is now a Quality Inn. There used to be a Comfort Suites, which is now Edgewater Inn. There used to be a La Quinta, which is now called Captain's Inn. And same thing is happening in Down in Kaluut. And so my point is, let us stop allowing these smaller hotels to come in because we have enough, we do. And let us elevate ourselves just like we did back in 2006 when we got the Hilton Garden Inn. And you will see the courtyard, we didn't have to give a single penny. We were able to prove the model, we were able to prove that our city can handle it, and they will allow additional investors to come in. And that's where I would ask you, and if you look after the courtyard, if you look at the development, and after 2008, you look in 2000, don't look at 2009 or 10, but look at 11, 2019, 2025, you will see the quality of the hotels have started to improve and the size of them have started to go up also. So I think that's my point. I think we're getting too much into the restrictions. I think hotel, motel, there's not a difference anymore. I think we just need to kind of stay focused on what we want for the future and what it looks like. Thank you. Appreciate that.

Council Member, what was that?

Thank you, Mayor. I would agree with fellow council members on the existing hotels as far as making them retrofit or upgrade, as far as that goes. Once you're here, you know, keep the quality of what you have, but having to go in and have additional expenditures, I would be against. As far as what Member Patel said on the The size of hotels, it makes sense. As far as Best Western, as long as I've lived here, when the Best Western showed up, you know, it was the first hotel in town. And the folks that I have come from out of town that I work with throughout the year, that was the only hotel that they had to stay at. And now they've moved to... to the Hampton Inn and to the Marriott out there at the town center. If they want more, if you want to say amenities or shopping or whatever you want to say, they'll stay out there. But it makes sense. as far as being able to set a standard as far as hotel room numbers. I don't know, Member Patel, what you have in the way of, you know, are you looking for 100 plus, 125 plus?

Thank you, Council Member Koza. So, look, in my business, the sweet spot, they usually stays between 95 and 120, okay? Operating-wise, it's just the sweeter spot. When you go above 120, then it becomes where you've got to add on the amenities. You've got to be able to have the larger conference space. You've got to have the restaurant. You've got to have the bar. So I think in order for us to elevate, I think you've got to be above 120. So at that point, I think people who are gonna look in our town, they'll add on the conference space, or they'll just get bigger to say, I'm not gonna compete with the Hilton Garden Inn, they already have that, so how do I differentiate myself from the Hilton Garden Inn? And so I think that's what we're trying to do is to say, how do we elevate to a next level? So I think 120.

So you're looking at 120, 125 somewhere around there?

120, yes, sir. That's right. That's the right number. Okay.

And I'd be fine with that. I know when you were talking about the incentives that we gave the Hilton Garden Inn, if I remember correctly, I mean, Tracy could probably back this up, but I think it was in 23 when those incentives came. ended because we ended up having to vote on some uh whether we were going to make some payments or not as to what triggers they hit or didn't hit um so we didn't they didn't collect fifty thousand dollars with the last yeah the last 1.2 million yeah right right so i i remember and i i want to say if i if i remember correctly it was in 23 uh you could verify that Okay, it was in the 22, 23 range is what I remember. And that would be something that our EDC could look at as far as what we can do to incentivize if we're looking to get those larger hotels. So that's where I'd be at, but thank you, Mayor.

Council Member Echols.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for the presentation on this UDC. I'm at a point of, I hear this council saying not to require any upgrades. However, as a businessman, when I purchased equipment, it was because the equipment had gone to hell in a handbasket. And to bring it up to my specs, when I bought the boat, I knew I was going to have to put money into the asset to bring the asset up where I would have a viable asset to be able to sell. Now, I'm not a hoteller, but I am a businessman. And I know of a hotel. Right now, they've lost their flag. because of the condition of the hotel. Right now, the bank is taking it over. The bank is trying to sell it. Whoever buys that, they will have to spend capital to bring the hotel back up to the standard that there is for them to retain their flat back. I know we have hotels here in Pearland that the owners have put capital in to make repairs, to remodel, to bring it up again to the specs of their flag. And I don't think that we're asking too much. If we require someone that buys a hotel They're buying that hotel usually because it's not making money for the previous owner, and they're wanting to get rid of it because they've let it go down. We don't want another hotel owner that's not going to put capital into their product. So I don't have a problem with requiring upgrades, quote unquote. I do have a problem with requiring much over the standard if the standard is what the standard is for them to maintain their flag bring it back up to the standard where it maintains the flag because the flag is what brings people in i go into the city i'm going to look at my app for either a hilton a hyatt or marriott And it's got to meet that standard, because I know that those corporations require their owners to keep their product to where it is acceptable and constant across the nation. And so, I think we may need to put something in to say, hey, we're not wanting to get into your business, but yet we also have to protect the reputation of our city. So I'm a little different, hard. Mr. Patel, am I incorrect? If you were going to buy another hotel or build another hotel or maintain another hotel, wouldn't it seem fair to say, OK, if you buy it, please elevate it back to what it was when it had its flag? Thank you much.

Mayor May I ask?

Absolutely.

Thank you. Member Echols, you're not incorrect, but I'm going to give you an example that contradicts that. In our town, I don't think you're talking about a hotel that's bankrupt in our town. Okay, that's what I thought. Okay.

Unfortunately, I do know most of the hotels here.

But in our town, there is a hotel that's franchised, got sold seven months ago. A bank out of Louisiana financed it. And within three months after that, I guess reworked their loans, okay? They had a capital plan of what they were gonna do, but the market is so bad that they couldn't justify spending the capital expenditures. So they let it go. They literally just told the lender, you either give us a deferral, a defeasement on our payments, or you're gonna take it back within like three months after they had made first three payments or something like that. So it could happen where people have good intentions, but the market just doesn't work out, right? Like I'm not saying you're wrong. You're absolutely right. That's the goal, but the market dictates a lot. In Paraland, I can only speak about Paraland because I know a little bit about it. The market is softening. If you look at the Thursday's package, We are collecting sales tax, but it's because inflation is also high. We don't talk about that. So, cost is high, so you're going to pay a little bit more taxes. But I think overall, if you ask the sentiment on this council, the economy is not in the best footing. And so, what I would say is people have good intentions, but if you force them, say you buy it and you have to do it, what happens to the guy who walks away from the deal? We've had that happen in Pearland. Matter of fact, on Miller Ranch Road, that property was, after Hurricane Ike, which is now a spark, in 2010, Moody Bank took over. And two years after it opened, brand new property, they walked out. The owners literally gave them the keys and walked out. So my point in telling you that is, you may have good intentions for somebody to take over, but they may not have the capital or the will or the know-how. You can't force them, because the asset is already on the ground. It would be one thing if it was new, and that's what we're focusing on. But when the asset is on the ground, it's a little bit different than getting the ship you're talking about operating, right? Because this is in the ground. You can't move it. You can't do anything with it. You've got to constantly look at it. And so, and the thought process was, for me, is if we can help stabilize that market and not keep adding more where, you know, they don't reinvest in them. But if the market is doing well, yes, some brands are going to do better than the others, right? But these, your Lakintas and Candlewood, and they're not going to, you're not going to pay $150. You yourself said you look at two brands, right? Two brands are the ones. And you probably have the apps on the phone. But the other brands need help by saying, look, if you constantly add these lower-end hotels, they're not going to continue to reinvest because they won't have anything. And so what they're going to do is they're going to keep dropping their price to find customers. And the thing I worry about, Member Echols, is eventually it's going to cost us more than it generates. Because when you look at Kaluut, and I hope you talked to a city manager named CJ.

Just want to make sure you're talking about the Mosquito Capital.

Hey, yes. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Kaluut. Kaluut. All right. What has happened down there in those hotels, their 911 calls have gone through the roof. And that's a fact. And I had lunch with CJ. So, they've had a lot of overdose cases. They've had a lot of 911 emergency calls because of fights. So, the clientele you're going to attract is going to be different. That's my point, and that's what I worry for long term. Sorry, Mayor. Thank you. Mayor Redekopal I was just about to say so.

Councilmember Cade.

Councilmember Cade I appreciate Member Vitale's expertise on this. Thank you. I had a question about the boutique that I forgot to ask. There's no, where did it go? Right there. No requirement, are we going to add requirements for the fitness center or for whatever it is that they choose? I mean, what's to keep them from putting a treadmill in the closet and saying this is the fitness center?

No, I think great comment, and staff, that's one of the items I wrote down is to actually add some size criteria to the game room, the fitness rooms, those types of items. And thank you for that. I'd like to just run through a couple of items real quick. We'd like to look for consensus. Would y'all just like to prohibit motels and just say no exterior entrances?

Yes. Yes.

When it comes to room counts, do we have consensus on maybe 125 as the minimum for extended, full, and limited?

Yes.

But not any more?

Not boutique, just to say. Yes.

But I thought Member Patel's point was that we have And that's large, or? No, we need higher.

We need higher than 120. That's what we're aiming for.

And I just want to shotgun through a few items. We've talked about it a couple times. We just want to right-size it. So prohibit motels. 125 is the base for extended, full, and limited. When it comes to the boutique, there was a comment made about requiring a cafe or a restaurant.

Yes, sir. I think you have full service requiring more amenities than your boutique, right? I would say in your boutique, it's not an option to have a cafe or a restaurant that serves three meals. It's a must, and a bar, right? That's the ambiance of a boutique hotel has to be a vibe, and the vibe comes with a restaurant, you know, a high-end restaurant with a nice bar, so...

My only thought on that, and I understand what you're saying, but if you do have a boutique hotel, if you look at the Old Town site revitalization plan, a lot of the area off of Grand and in that area is planned to have bars and restaurants and some of that vibe, so to speak. So to require it of the boutique hotel also in that environment would maybe be unnecessary.

And I would say, again, look, alcohol is going to make most money, right? And a boutique hotel is not going to be very large. It's going to be about 50, maybe 60 rooms max. And so the vibe is going to come from the restaurant and the bar. And they probably want the bar. Trust me. If it's a boutique hotel, they'll want the bar. And if it flows correctly... With other restaurants and bars in the area, it just kind of is a stop point for people to go in there, have a drink, eat, and then go somewhere else, right?

Which I don't disagree with. I was just saying more from the requiring it perspective versus it being, if they want it, they can put it in their design. Does that make sense? That was my only thought, specifically thinking about the hotel and revitalization area.

And again, that's why I wanted to look for consensus. I've seen two head nods, so the boutique requiring a restaurant cafe Three.

Yes.

Yes. OK. Yes. Doesn't matter. I think that's all the items on mine. And then any on the boutique one, 13 to 50. Room size is larger, 13 to 75. OK. Good. I apologize for the shotgun question. Just want to know we're coming up on time.

I just want to ask you to summarize. I appreciate that to make sure you had a consensus to move forward.

Okay, the other question all by see and then one item was just to say it is we did, I think four and the number Trevor you shook her head. So I put her down was the ownership to not require be a trigger. Just to say it. Thank y'all.

Okay, I think that'll probably conclude any discussion. Seeing no other agenda items, I'll adjourn the meeting at 6.01.