Politics & Government

Media Borough Council Approves Hotel Resolution, Website Redesign Contract

The Media Borough Council approved a resolution for a hotel development plan and awarded a contract for a website redesign at its meeting Thursday night.

The Council approved a resolution for the preliminary land development plan for a hotel on the corner of Beatty and Providence roads and awarded a contract to update the borough’s website at its meeting Thursday night.

The development of a Hampton Inn at the corner of Beatty and Providence roads has been a more than five-year discussion, Council Member Peter Williamson said.

The four-story hotel would consist of 107 rooms and 114 parking spaces. It would include extensive landscaping and fencing around most of the perimeter, officials from the Pinnacle Hospitality Group, the developers of the project, said.

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Along with 35 conditions the developer must meet, the council approved the preliminary land development plan and lot line change for the Hampton Inn project in a 6-1 vote. Council Member James Cunningham voted against the resolution.

A few of the 35 conditions the developer must meet are lighting requirements that the borough engineer and council must approve, creating sidewalks and making a financial contribution for the installation of a traffic signal.

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The lighting and landscaping along the Allen Lane property lines, as well as the Providence Road side, must eliminate glare and spill-over of light onto those properties, the ordinance condition states.

The developer shall provide a 5-foot wide sidewalk along Beatty and Providence roads, the ordinance condition states.

The developer will also contribute $35,000 to the borough which will apply to the cost of installing a traffic signal at the corner of Beatty and Providence roads or go toward any other traffic improvements the borough sees fit, the ordinance condition states.

Cunningham did not support the project at that location and said it was too intense of a development in a limited area.

"The zoning, foolishly, allows for a high density use at this location so we are faced with what we are faced with. But the development needs to fit into the neighborhood, the neighborhood should not have to fit into the development," he said.

Cunningham then listed several other conditions that should be placed in the resolution as an amendment.

A couple of Cunningham’s suggestions included, that the developer should pay 50 percent of any intersection improvement costs, not $35,000, for a period of 10 years not to exceed $75,000 and all parking lot lights should point down to the lot not out, he said.

Borough Council President Peter Alyanakian said he shares some of Cunningham’s same concerns but they’ve come a long way since the initial proposal.

Williamson said the council has seen many drafts of the plan and to make significant additions at the last minute is not acceptable.

The resolution was passed without adding Cunningham’s suggested amendments.

In separate borough news, the council awarded a website redesign and development contract to Aha Consulting to redesign the borough website.

Council Member Monica Simpson said the three-year contract would include full design, development and on-site training at a cost of $10,600 for the first year.

The second and third year will each include website maintenance, web hosting, technical support and additional training at a cost of $2,400 each year, Simpson said.

She said the committee reviewed 38 proposals and said Aha’s main focus is municipality and government sites and their proposal comes under budget.

"They truly understand our market and what our needs are," Simpson said.

Alyanakian said he appreciates the work and extensive review of the proposals but his issue with the project is that he has never heard a negative comment from residents regarding the current website.

"I think (the current website) provides a great resource," he said. "I don’t know why we’re doing this in the second quarter. I know the money is in the budget but I’d like to wait longer in the year to see how the revenues are before we agree to developing a website."

Simpson said the current website is content heavy but it is difficult to navigate and is not user friendly.

"We’ve had requests for years to update it," she said.

Council Member Eric Stein said the redesign is not just a facelift, it is a complete update to the infrastructure.

"It’s the stuff that you don’t see in IT that will kill you," he said. "We have kind of leaky pipes from an IT prospective and it bites you eventually."

The council approved the contract with a 5-2 vote. Cunningham and Alyanakian voted against the contract.

(Read also a separate Media Borough Council story regarding the


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