Upvalley developer Friedrich set to propose hotel

By JESSE DUARTE
For the Register

Rodney Friedrich, who’s been trying to build a hotel in South St. Helena since the early days of the Reagan administration, is living proof that persistence pays off.

The city council voted 4-0 last week to raise the city’s hotel room cap by 60 rooms, clearing the way for Friedrich to design a hotel project for his Vineland Station property at Main Street and Vidovich Avenue.

“I think over the years I’ve proven to the city that I have enhanced the value of the entrance to St. Helena, and I plan on doing that with this facility,” Friedrich said.

Now that the council has raised the cap, Friedrich will put together a detailed application for an “overnight lodging facility.” He has one year to submit a detailed application for design review, use permit and tentative parcel map, which will require public hearings at the planning commission.

“I have to say, there’s certainly nobody as persistent as Rodney,” Councilmember Bonnie Schoch said. “I’ve always believed this is a great location for a hotel, and I really strongly support this.”

The Highway 29 Specific Plan, a document from the early ’90s that mapped out development in South St. Helena, analyzed the impact of a hotel at Vineland Station, which is zoned Service Commercial. But Friedrich again and again has failed to get a majority of the council to support his hotel projects — until now.

“I want to say ‘thank you’,” said a visibly emotional Friedrich after the council’s vote. “From the bottom of my heart, ‘thank you’.”

Based on a study of similar hotels in the area, Friedrich estimates that in its fifth year of operation his hotel would raise $967,000 a year for the city in transient occupancy taxes.

The Specific Plan requires Friedrich to build a new road — billed as an Oak Avenue extension — between Vidovich and Grayson avenues. He has already built 10 housing units, two of them affordable.

This marks the fourth time since the 1993 General Plan that the council has increased the room cap. The other increases were for the Eagle and Rose Hotel, the expansion of the Harvest Inn and the yet-to-be-built Grandview Inn.

The planning commission, which has consistently supported Friedrich’s hotel proposals, recommended that the council approve his latest request.

Councilmember Eric Sklar recused himself because in the past he acted as a paid consultant on a possible hotel project at the St. Helena Marketplace north of town.

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