Avalon Approves Contract for Business District Study

AVALON – Avalon Council authorized the execution of a contract with Colliers Engineering and Design, June 28, for a B-1 business district planning study focused on the issues that would arise from the establishment of boutique hotels in the district.
The establishment of boutique hotels outside the borough’s designated hotel district has been a controversial topic before the Planning Board since 2016, when a specific design for such a structure was proposed for 21st Street.
Although approval of a boutique hotel was not given during previous Planning Board sessions, the board has appeared more sympathetic to the concept of a hotel as a potential method of revitalizing a business district that has seen some decline in recent years.
The concept of an outside consultant’s study of the issue has had opposition from some members of the public, many of whom live in the area of 21st Street.
The most recent opposition to the study took the form of a call for a broad planning analysis of the district that would not have a narrow focus on boutique hotels.
At the meeting approving the contract to Colliers, the council elected to go with the hotel focus that was detailed in a request for proposals (RFP) developed by the Planning Board. The cost of the study was listed in the resolution as $18,500.