Thirty-seven acres of land on Airport Road down the street from the Ravine Waterpark was once designated for a resort with four hotels. The entitlements expired back in 2011, but they’re on the table once again for a public hearing on Tuesday, February 25th.
Years after gaining approval, plans for the Destino Hotel Resort are going back before the City Council.
“This project has exhausted all of those potential time extensions," said City Project Planner Katie Banister. "So what's on the agenda this evening was actually re-approved all of the project — we call it a refile. We're just we're looking at the same entitlements, the same conditions, but re-approved with a new start date.”
That means the project has another eight years before it expires once more. However, project architect Michael Stanton says work never got underway because they couldn’t find a developer willing to build in the area. Now, he says the market is looking better for Paso Robles’ hospitality industry and he’s confident a developer will bite within the next few months.
“The tourism has really jumped up in the last few years," said Paso Robles resident Donna Bartholomew. "All the wineries, everybody wants to come and see what Paso has to offer [so] let's give them a nice place to stay.”
The four hotels combined will have 291 rooms. Right now, it’s unclear what will go on the two remaining lots. One lot remains vacant and another lot is being maintained with a farmhouse still located on the property.
“After the public hearing, they'll have entitlements and then that would enable them to apply for grading and building permits," Banister added. "Those tend to be more detailed plans. They'll have to have engineers get down to all the details of elevations and grades and roads — there's just a lot of improvements that would have to be made.”
While there's still work to be done and a contract to be signed with a developer, Stanton says he’s confident work will begin before the year is over.
