102 rooms, 103 spaces: Mill Street hotel wins parking exception

Starkville aldermen approved a parking exception Oct. 20 for a proposed 102-room TownePlace Suites, allowing 103 on-site spaces instead of the roughly 128 normally required by the city’s development code.⁠[1][2][3][4]

The hotel site is on the east side of Mill Street, directly east of the Cotton Mill Road intersection. The special exception, SE 26-12, reduces a requirement of 1.25 parking spaces per guest room to approximately one.⁠[1][3]

As we reported in our earlier look at the parking proposal, the stakes extend next door. Staff favored allowing the hotel to meet its requirement on-site rather than relying on a perpetual parking easement at adjoining Cottonmill Marketplace. Staff warned that such an easement could burden the shopping-center property and affect its future redevelopment or use.⁠[5]

The applicant says approximately one space per room has been adequate at its operating hotels. Asked about facilities that might draw additional vehicles, Brian Nettles of KBR Hotels told the board the hotel would have small meeting rooms, not conference space, and food service limited to complimentary breakfast.⁠[6][7][8]

The parking vote was not final site-plan approval. At the hearing, planning staff said the project had undergone multiple Development Review Committee reviews, including work on getting a fire truck into the unusually shaped lot and turned around. Staff described the project as close to approval once an official application came forward—not already through that review.⁠[2][9]