By Marney Simon
Enterprise Staff
Plans to build a four-story hotel on a vacant parcel at U.S. 30 and Spangler Road near the I-55 interchange have been scrapped.
Jonathan Proulx, Plainfield’s Director of Planning, said on Wednesday, Nov. 14, that the application for the proposed Avid hotel had been withdrawn by the developer, Suhas Patel. Last week, the plan was slated to return to the plan commission, but was continued.
At that time, Patel was working on negotiations with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) over the access to the site from U.S. 30.
The proposal first came to the plan commission in October, with residents from the neighboring Winding Creek subdivision rallying against the 92-room structure based on potential negative impact to the adjacent residential area. Over the past month, the neighbors have organized community information meetings and protests against the plan.
The biggest issue, however, was access.
The site sits on a 2.54-acres with access to U.S. 30 in only one direction. Neighbors organized protests against the proposal, saying that a hotel at the site would send excess traffic through their residential streets. The neighbors also objected to possible noise and light pollution, as well as the possibility of a hotel bringing transients to the area.
Proulx said Patel was under a limited contract to purchase the land, but negotiations with IDOT over access issues were expected to take a long time, with no guaranteed result, making the property purchase no longer in the buyer’s best interest.
Village officials noted that any development of the site would present traffic issues, since the parcel only has access to the eastbound lanes of U.S. 30.
The future of development at the site, which is currently in a commercial zoned area, is uncertain.