The Tyler City Council denied on Wednesday an item being considered to spend money planning a new hotel and conference center at the city’s iconic Rose Complex. The council rejected paying the firm Garfield Public/Private LLC $12,000 a month, up to a maximum of $48,000, to have the firm create a master plan for developing a hotel and conference center at the Rose Complex in the western area of the city.

The decision to deny the spending item followed a two-hour discussion with city councilors, members of the public and local business leaders, including the landowner who donated land to the city to build a hotel and conference center in the southern part of the city.

Some of the speakers supported putting a hotel and conference center at the Rose Complex. Others said the city was going back on previous plans to build near the intersection of Toll 49 and South Broadway Avenue. Others said the city should go back to the drawing board.

Under the plan that was being considered, Garfield Public/Private LLC would be responsible for investing $65,000 of its own money in the project. The company would be responsible for creating and negotiating a master development agreement and preparing a conceptual design package.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

• The City Council approved the purchase of $105,000 in new equipment for the Tyler Police Department. The city is purchasing the equipment because of a donation from the Smith County District Attorney’s Office.

• The City Council approved $86,000 in annual expenditures for odor control near the city’s Southside Wastewater Treatment Plant and Shackleford Lift Station. The company doing the work is Pennco Inc.

The city was asking for the conceptual design to be for a nationally branded hotel with 200 rooms and suites, 20,000 square feet of event space, a three-meal restaurant and a swimming pool, among other things. Planning a hotel and conference center at the Rose Complex would have been a pivot from previous plans the city had to build one in the southern part of the city — plans that were still on the table in early 2017. The city had been planning to put the hotel and conference center on a donated plot of land near the intersection of Toll 49 and South Broadway Avenue. The city also moved forward with building a nearby pond. “This is the fourth, that I’m aware of, bite at the apple for this project,” said Mark Whatley, a former Tyler City Council member who now works for Burns Commercial Properties in the development industry. “It’s a difficult position — several failed attempts,” Whatley said to the council. “It’s been a very frustrating process. If it takes another five or six years, you’ll be just as frustrated as the mayor and I are (from) trying to get this done.” Whatley questioned why the city was looking at putting the hotel and conference center at the Rose Complex and not on the land in the southern part of the city. He pointed to a study the council commissioned in 2012 that considered that land the best of nine options. “Since 2012, what has happened in the city of Tyler, other than the lack of being able to get the project built?” Whatley asked. Matt Wilson, the developer of the Village at Cumberland Park, which is near the donated plot of land in the southern part of the city, told the council he does not support the Rose Complex site.

He said the city committed years ago to build a hotel and conference center at that site near the Village at Cumberland Park, and now there’s a hole in the project where the land is sitting vacant.

“I’m glad that we’re having this discussion because I wish honestly that we had had this discussion a little more throughout the process,” Wilson said. “We didn’t know that … there would be another location considered for the site.”

Bob Garrett, the president of Broadway South Development, sold the land to create the Village at Cumberland Park and donated the plot of land in question to the city. He also opposed the Rose Complex location.

Garrett said he and other businesspeople made a big investment in the Village at Cumberland Park based on the study that Whatley referenced, and now the city is abandoning its previous plans.

Garrett said the Rose Complex site ranked sixth out of nine different sites reviewed in the study. He said that study called the southern parcel “not the best of the nine, but the optimal site.”

Mayor Martin Heines, who presides over the City Council, fielded many of the questions that developers and business leaders raised during the meeting. He said there may not be an optimal site for a hotel and conference center.

“We’re not voting (today) to pick a site or even do a deal,” Heines said. “What we’re saying is, ‘We’re going to move forward with a feasibility analysis.’ The question is, ‘Do we need to try?’ And my answer is yes, by the way.”

Tom Mullins, the CEO of the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce, said the city needs not only a hotel and conference center, but also a free-standing events center. He suggested the city reopen the site selection process.

“We have consistently said Tyler is way overdue for a new, larger convention center and hotel, and a 6,000-to 8,000-seat convention center,” Mullins said. “We are losing large conference centers because we can’t bid on them when we don’t have the facilities.”

Dilip Patel, the owner of America’s Best Value Inn on West Northwest Loop 323, asked the city to consider building a hotel and conference center in the northern part of the city or downtown.

“It would rejuvenate the whole community,” Patel said. “The downtown area has access to every highway that goes in and out of town. It’s not congested right now, and I’m sure the city can plan for better traffic flow. The Rose Garden is very good as well. … I’m all for that.”

Near the end of the meeting, Heines said it was clear that city councilors voiced concerns about the hotel and conference center project, and that the spending item would not be approved.

District 5 council member Bob Westbrook asked to delay consideration of the spending for 30 days, but the council voted down his request. The council then tied on a vote to approve the spending item.

“We can argue and debate and maneuver about (the) site all you want, but if it doesn’t lead to a product, it’s just maneuvering,” Heines said. “And I see a lot more maneuvering pop up than I was expecting today, and so with that maneuvering, I think we just take a deep breath.”

At the end of several minutes of procedural discussion, the council agreed to strike down the spending item. The council can still bring the item up for consideration at future meetings.

Heines called the meeting “extremely successful” because the city heard about concerns in an open meeting.

“We had more dialogue than we’ve had in probably two years on this item, and so I appreciate that very much,” Heines said. “I think that was good for us to do that.”

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