“We’re keeping our fingers crossed and our toes crossed that we can come to an agreement somewhere down the line.””

Rep. Ken Marshall

Plans for a long-envisioned hotel on Gooding Avenue are still in the works, but there is no timetable for the project after the state Department of Environmental Management sent developers back to the drawing board.

The DEM Office of Water Resources earlier this year denied the proposal to build a Comfort Inn hotel on Gooding Avenue across from Broadcommon Road. The property — owned by KenDan LLC, a real estate holding company of which Rep. Ken Marshall is a principal owner — contains freshwater wetlands that would be destroyed in the development, according to DEM Permitting Supervisor Martin Wencek.

The elimination of 1.53 acres of swampland would have a detrimental effect on wildlife in the area, eliminating habitat, including feeding grounds, breeding areas and nesting sites, according to a letter Mr. Wencek sent denying the plan. The plans did not include a suitable buffer between the proposed hotel and the wildlife habitat, Mr. Wencek wrote.

The hotel’s impermeable surfaces like the roof and parking lot would not absorb water and could also increase flooding in the area, potentially swamping properties downstream, DEM ruled, especially during heavy rainstorms. The developers, Mr. Wencek wrote, need to study how the runoff from the hotel property would impact Silver Creek which continues downhill form the property and runs through two culverts at Mt. Hope High School on its way to the bay.

The property developers still want to build the hotel, and are working through the DEM ruling and modifying the plan in attempts to meet the Water Resources Division’s requirements, Rep. Marshall said Tuesday. He did not specify a timeline for a new proposal.

“The developer is working through a reduced scope of the project to satisfy DEM,” Rep. Marshall said. “We’re trying to meet all the codes and regulations.”

Of them, there are too many, according to Explore Bristol, a public-private organization tasked with promoting the town and its businesses.

“This much needed addition to Bristol’s tourism infrastructure is still mired in the state of Rhode Island’s regulatory morass,” reads a recent Explore Bristol email newsletter. “It has been three years since the investors began their attempt to build this much needed hotel in our town. Maybe we should not be surprised that this is the case in a state that consistently ranks at the bottom on national business friendly rankings.”

A hotel would likely be a boon to business in Bristol, specifically the wedding industry. The town is a destination for brides and grooms, with as many as 300 weddings a year being hosted at such venues as Blithewold Mansion, Mount Hope Farm, Linden Place and others. Hundreds of wedding guests flood Bristol every weekend between April and October, but with only about 60 rooms for rent in town, many of them leave town after the party.

The booming wedding industry is indeed part of the impetus for the hotel proposal, Rep. Marshall said, as is the nearby Industrial Park, which often hosts visitors in the manufacturing industry who need somewhere to stay. 

“It would suit multiple purposes. It would keep people in Bristol,” he said. “It would give people the ability to stay in town and spend money in town.”

Rep. Marshall declined to offer specifics on the new hotel plan, other than that the scope of the project and its location on the property could be altered. After getting wetlands permission from DEM, the hotel proposal would then require town building permits and a plan review from the Bristol Fire Department to ensure accessibility and safety. The property is zoned General Business, so likely would not need Zoning Board approval. Rep. Marshall said he did not know when the developers would resubmit plans to the DEM.

“We’re going through a concept review,” he said. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed and our toes crossed that we can come to an agreement somewhere down the line.”