By ROY WOOD

Oliver council’s dream of seeing someone build a hotel in town came a short step closer Tuesday when a local developer touted a 14-room-plus-penthouse proposal within a block of the council chamber.

Richard Kendricks told council the hotel is only at the concept design stage and that he still needs to attract investors to the project.

He said he was presenting his plans to council in hopes of getting assurances that the town will cut him some slack around parking requirements and that the town intends to upgrade the appearance of Fairview Road west of downtown.

What Kendricks has in mind is a 14-room “boutique hotel (in the) Santa Fe style.” It would be a two-storey addition onto the old Catholic church on the north side of Fairview just west of Kootenay Street.

The proposal includes an underground parking garage for 12 cars. This would fall short of the requirement for the hotel and the existing Medici’s Gelataria restaurant.

“I’ll be looking for investors to make (the project) happen,” said Kendricks. “I need to know now that we will be able to get a parking variance.”

While council could not commit to such a variance, Mayor Ron Hovanes assured Kendricks that the town will do whatever it can to make the hotel project possible.

Hovanes mentioned an existing ground-floor parking exemption for downtown commercial businesses. As well, he pointed to 10-year municipal business tax exemption for hotels under a program to encourage downtown revitalization.

“You’re looking at a council table that is pretty creative” and willing to help such a project, said Hovanes. “We’ve wanted a hotel for a long time.”

Kendricks, who has owned the land for eight years, said he would like to see the town extend the current downtown décor and lighting theme up Fairview Road to the high school.

He said the stucco and wood Santa Fe look of the proposed hotel would fit nicely with the town, particularly to wine-related events like the festival of the grape.

The hotel would be connected to the existing building via a hallway. There would be a common courtyard area adjacent to the hotel’s ground floor, which would contain a lobby and five guest rooms.

The second floor would contain nine guest rooms and on the roof would be a two-bedroom penthouse that could be home to the hotel manager or available for rent.

Hovanes warned Kendricks that there will be many regulatory hoops to go through, but encouraged him to begin meeting with town staff to get the ball rolling. Kendricks said he would.