Plans for a new 62-room hotel in the Gateway I Corporate Park off Route 98, north of the Thruway, continue to move through the approval process without a hitch.
Last night, the Town of Batavia Planning Board approved an environmental review assessment and the previous evening the Zoning Board of Appeals approved variances for the height of the building and signage.
The proposed Fairfield Inn will be the second hotel built in the Gateway development within the past five years. In 2011, local hotel owners objected to the planned Holiday Inn Express in the park, but it was approved and built.
The Fairfield Inn will be owned by the Patel family from Erie, Pa., a family that already owns hotels in Batavia.
An attorney for Oakfield Hospitality, LLC, said the owners have marketing studies that show there is still a growing need for hotel rooms in the Batavia market.
The hotel needed a height variance because it will be four stories tall instead of three stories. There is also a plan for a free-standing sign of 147 square feet.
The project must still undergo a site plan review before final approval. The developers are also waiting for the DOT to approve a traffic study.
If there are no delays in the approval process, construction could begin within two months.
