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An architects rendering of the Orchid hotel and spa proposed for Main Street in Manchester. The enterprise, led by William and Stephen Drunsic, has reimagined the design of the hotel to match the contour of the surrounding area and to limit noise for nearby neighbors. 

A Manchester online tax parcel map shows the location of land owned by Orchid LLC and proposed for an 80-room hotel and spa. A new design for the project was presented to the Development Review Board last week. 

An architects rendering of the Orchid hotel and spa proposed for Main Street in Manchester. The enterprise, led by William and Stephen Drunsic, has reimagined the design of the hotel to match the contour of the surrounding area and to limit noise for nearby neighbors. 

A Manchester online tax parcel map shows the location of land owned by Orchid LLC and proposed for an 80-room hotel and spa. A new design for the project was presented to the Development Review Board last week. 

MANCHESTER — Members of the Development Review Board, in a 4-1 decision, have approved an amended permit for the Orchid hotel, restaurant and spa at 5940 Main St.

The decision, supported by Board Chairman Tim Waker and members Cathy Stewart, Ray Ferrarin and John Watanabe, sets 23 conditions for the redesigned 67-room hotel. A permit for the site was first approved in 2012, when it was owned by Vermont Turquoise Hospitality and its principal, Alpaslan Basdogan.

In a letter accompanying the decision, Manchester Planning and Zoning Director Janet Hurley said Orchid LLC has 30 days in which to endorse the decision. Hurley informed the developers she will not issue a permit until the conditions are met.

“Pursuant to the conditions of the approval, you will need to submit your state stormwater permit and revised plans before I can issue a permit for construction to begin,” Hurley said. “Once I have reviewed these items to confirm conformance with the DRB decision and the Manchester Land Use & Development Ordinance, I will be able to issue a zoning permit.”

That state stormwater permit was one among the 23 conditions set by the DRB in issuing the decision Thursday. Others include a resubmitted site plan addressing concerns raised by the board, and by abutting property owners, during its hearing.

Most of the conditions revolve around minimizing sound and light for abutting property owners, who testified about their concerns at two hearings. Outdoor speakers must remain below 75 decibels, and below 60 decibels after 10 p.m.

Construction at the site will be allowed between 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

All of the exterior LED lighting planned for the site must be “shielded, downcasting, and shall not cause glare or light trespass off site,” the board said in the decision. It required that outdoor lighting must be reduced by 50 percent after 10 p.m., and 75 percent between 2 p.m. and dawn.

The conditions also specify connections to the town water and sewer systems, that stormwater be treated and dissipated onsite, and that the stormwater system shall be regularly maintained to remove sediment.

Orchid LLC inherited a previously approved permit for an 80-room hotel when they purchased the nearly 45-acre site for $1.9 million three years ago. But the developers, led by William and Stephen Drunsic, returned to the board this year with a new vision — one it hoped would address neighborhood concerns about noise and provide for a more striking view of Manchester and its surrounding mountains.

The new design, by Kyle Murphy of KaTO Design — the same firm that designed Founders Hall at Burr and Burton Academy — reimagined the 67 rooms in a single curved row of between two and three stories, following the contours of the surrounding landscape. That would direct noise toward Main Street and away from neighbors on Moon Ridge Road, to the east.

Not everyone on the five-member board was satisfied with the design. A dissenting opinion was written by member Kyle Emge, citing the design and what he characterized as a lack of pedestrian and bicycle access.

Emge said the design, while well thought out and taking care to preserve the existing house and barn on the property, “does not preserve, maintain or enhance the architectural integrity or historic character of the underlying zoning district.

“While I appreciate the architect’s intent regarding the physical appearance, I fear the facility will appear out of place and too divergent from the historically-focused design and aesthetic of Manchester,” he said.

That doesn’t mean new development must copy or re-create existing designs, Emge said. “But diverging too far from the historic context without some specific reasoning or tangible benefit to justify the stark design contrast can be considered to be noncompliant.”

As for pedestrian and bicycle access, Emge cited relevant passages of the town zoning ordinance and town plan, and said the Orchid plan did not comply.

The conditions set by the board call for a bike rack next to the lower campus parking lot, as well as a footpath extending from a historic barn on the property to the closest pedestrian access at the north side of the hotel. But Emge said a project of this size “should have actively addressed issues related to separate bicycle traffic access.”

Emge also questioned the lack of pedestrian access, saying the developers could have worked with the town to provide a sidewalk along the east side of Main Street, and a crosswalk — as well as changes to Main Street to make a crosswalk safe. “The existing street design, and speed limit is considered ‘dangerous by design’ and is completely within the town’s control to address,” he said.

The main decision addressed the sidewalk, as well — and the remainder of the board concluded that “requiring sidewalk along the frontage of this property is not reasonable at this time, because it would not connect to the existing public sidewalk network.”

The board further said that the level of pedestrian traffic to the hotel would not warrant building one, and that the 45 mph speed limit made installing a crosswalk on Main Street unsafe.

Reach Greg Sukiennik at gsukiennik@manchesterjournal.com or at 802-447-7567, ext. 119.

MANCHESTER — Some neighbors of the proposed Orchid Hotel and Spa on Main Street in Manchester are calling for an acoustic study of the project…

Greg Sukiennik has worked at all three Vermont News & Media newspapers and was their managing editor from 2017-19. He previously worked for ESPN.com, for the AP in Boston, and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass.

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