A proposed hotel in Hope has moved one small step closer to reality with council passing two variances for the development.
After five years on the council table, Councillor Peter Robb questioned the developer, Mike Hache, of Agora Projects, on when the developer sees the project moving ahead and the property cleaned up.
The proposed hotel, convention centre and restaurant complex is slated land next to the Tim Horton’s on Old Hope-Princeton Way.
Hache told council that he and his partners would like the hotel to be open for business by March or April of 2012.
The initial proposal was for a 110 room hotel, which had been previously cut to 80 rooms.
At Monday’s meeting, council approved a variance to allow the contractor to provide 138 parking stalls down from 159 in the original plans. Council also approved a height variance for the project.
Also off the books is a clock tower that had been designed into the architecture of the main building. Concerns over the design were raised by the Ministry of Highways as it could become a distraction for drivers traveling along a dark section of the Coquihalla Highway, The highway runs behind the planned facility at a higher grade.