We held a peaceful protest against the proposed 75 room hotel, Hampton Inn at 906 S. Talbot Street, St. Michaels, MD on July 4, 2022. We are the Warriors of St. Michaels We are trying to keep St. Michaels quaint, charming and beautiful. We are protecting our quaint American town’s future. Our aim is to protect our trees, wetlands, wildlife habitats and children. We want to keep the Town and developers from ruining the beauty of our town.
A hotel is dangerous for our schools, community pool and daycare which are located directly across the street. The hotel project will tear down ½ an acre of our beautiful trees. It will ruin our wetlands and wreak havoc on bald eagle and blue heron habitats. This hotel would destroy the quaint, charming feel of the Town. Our Town relies on tourism to survive. Are tourists going to want to visit another cookie cutter town with franchises and chain businesses? If we allow one chain business, where does it stop? Please don’t let the developers “pave paradise and put in a parking lot”.
Tracey Johns says
I understand peoples concerns. I served on the St. Michaels and Talbot Tourism Advisory Boards for some time a few years back. We may recall Harbourtowne shut down in St. Michaels when Mr. Cohen purchased the Inn at Perry Cabin a few years back, so we know capacity for more rooms in St. Michaels is needed and is there in place for our schools etc. The loss of rooms hit Talbot County pretty hard for all our guests and the Hampton Inn fits an excellent niche and is a reputable brand. Imagine the community support they could bring also.
Jennifer Pogoda says
With all due respect Tracy, please refer to the St. Michaels government web site and review today’s recorded planning commission meeting and listen to all public comments and discussion to see this proposed hotel is wrong for many reasons.
David Tull says
Totally agree with the Warriors of St. Michael’s.
JEANNE B BENTZ says
Full Support of stopping this awful Hampton Inn and the damage it will do! What about the SCHOOL across the street? How can the Hampton Inn GUARANTEE that they will not be checking in sexual predators???? Give me a break. Horrible idea.
Jeanne Everngam says
I Could Not agree more!! Easton is a prime example…and so is Trappe. Maneuvering downtown St. Michaels has been a Nightmare for years….imagine More chain hotels “chomping at the bit” to build between St. Michaels and Tilghman!
Andrea Roberson says
Absolutely agree with the Warriors of St. Michaels! Wonderful protest yesterday!
Traffic on Talbot Street is already congested. Adding a 73-room hotel with 73 to nearly 300 people and cars will only add to the congestion, noise and safety concerns. Having a large, budget, chain hotel across the street from the community pool, pre-school, elementary, middle and high schools is unsafe. Accidents can happen anywhere, but adding this large hotel is only inviting something to happen. This is not the proper location for a large hotel. This hotel would destroy all of the tress on the property, the wetlands and destroy the homes of the wildlife.
We just left a town meeting about the hotel, which was packed with residents opposing the hotel.
Perry Cabin is in the works of repairing the old Harbortowne hotel and will re-open as a new hotel, which means we will not need another hotel.
Mr. Patel, the owner of the St. Michaels Inn, is the one who is attempting to purchase this property with Hampton Inn. Mr. Patel held a public meeting a few weeks ago and when asked the occupancy at the St. Michaels Inn during the week, he said they are only filled 30-35% from Monday to Thursday. Most business in St. Michaels are short-staffed. When he was asked how he planned to staff this new hotel, he said he would bring them in from out of town and house them at the St. Michaels Inn. If this many rooms are empty, then why is another hotel needed? When he was asked about overflow parking, he said he would have them park at the St. Michaels Inn and shuttle them over. With these statistics, another hotel is not needed in our town.
David Lloyd says
Could not agree more!! The damage to the trees, reputation as a “no chain stores allowed” and the impact it would have on the surrounding areas would be irreversible 👎. It would change the very positive image that St. Michaels has as was portrayed in the recent New York Times article.
Charlotte (Charlie) Snead says
I agree 100% with Mrs. Mahoney’s sentiment’s. Many of us that have moved to this beautiful town and surrounding areas for its beauty and pace of life. Not only will this proposed hotel destroy the entrance to our town it will bring chain commercialism that we don’t want or need. The location is not appropriate, the towns schools and community pool are directly across the street not to mention the homeowners that will be affected! Saint Michaels is a seasonal tourist town. No one will be walking the town in February. Perhaps during Christmas in Saint Michaels but I believe there are enough rooms available for those folks. However, in the end the town will lose and the residents will lose. The only winners will be Mr. Patel and his cronies that don’t live in or care about our town.
Cindi Maynard says
Agree with The Warriors of St Michael’s!!!
Peter Klosowicz says
Why on Gods earth would I want more traffic in this beautiful St. Michael’s town. I agree with Melissa. The hotel, just a bad idea.
Vickie Swanson says
I agree with this viewpoint. A Hampton Inn can be located near Target and Harris Teeter, but not in St Michaels. This will ruin the charm of the town.
It is not a place for this type of hotel.
We chose to buy a house here because of the beauty, quiet days, nature and small town atmosphere. A Hampton Inn will destroy this.
stanley shapiro says
What happened to Harbortown ? that was a nice place to stay….any reason why new owners are not fixing the place up after all these years ?
Melissa says
I believe Harbourtowne is now owned by the Inn at Perry Cabin who are in the process of renovating. It will be re-opening.
Peggy Abrahamson says
I agree. St. Michael’s is also historic. The state should keep it that way. The Hamptons and other chains can locate nearby In nonhistoric places and folks can visit St. Michael’s from there as they have for 100 or more years.
Burt G says
I’m a Hilton Honors Member. And I am against the Hilton Brand or any chain hotel building in St Michael’s. It would set precedent for further development not in line with the current spirit and character that is St Michael’s.
Thank you.
Rosemarie Brletich says
My husband and I have been visiting St Michaels since 1989 primarily because of it’s uniqueness and charm. We strongly agree a motel/hotel would destroy the wonderful atmosphere that St Michaels exhibits.In addition it may attract a clientele that is not indicative to the atmosphere that St Michaels exudes.We believe in preserving the town for the locals as it is their home of which they are very proud.
Bob Little says
I have lived in SM 26 years.
I use the intersection of Seymore and Talbot almost daily. The busiest, most dangerous crossing in the town caused by constant traffic.
Absolutely wrong place for another peak hour traffic use at this location
Ruck G Davids says
As someone who visited Saint Michael’s for the first time recently, I think you are biting the hand that feeds you. Your availability of rooms is low which of course means that those rooms available are incredibly overpriced. I am sure that the bed and breakfasts and harbour inn have a vested interest in not seeing competition. I bet they are even true “warriors” to keep that competition out. My trip was nice but been there and done that. Their are too many similar and less expensive places to spend my disposable income. But that is your choice as a town. Good luck with that!!
Bob Little says
Fully support Warriors of St Michaels
Michelle D’Ascenzo says
Absolutely agree that this type of development needs to stop. Hampton Inn can hang out on the main drag like all the other self-respecting chains do.
Cary Smithson says
I fully support not allowing another hotel to be built in St. Michaels. The town is too crowded on weekends already.
S L Paolucci says
Per the admin of Perry Cabin, the Harbourtown Resort will be renovated starting this fall. It makes more sense to use an available resource which will retain the charm and elegant footprint of St Michaels rather than bringing in a cookie cutter hotel which will further ensnarl a dangerous traffic area and impinge upon the flora and fauna of the adjacent hike/bike trail. I am not sure we can stop this train but we surely need to try.
Liz Fisher says
Please advise what residents of Talbot County, who do not reside in St. Michaels but also agree that the hotel is ill advised, may do to help reject the project.
Steve Shimko says
First, let me say that I think the hotel, as presently envisioned, is a bad idea for that location.
But, the use of that property for a hotel is consistent with its zoning (General Commercial?). So just ranting about how bad a hotel would be at that location is not going to make it go away. St. Michaels has no choice but to allow a hotel of some sort on that property.
That said, the Planning Commission and other government entities have tools in their chest that can help reduce the impact of the hotel. The bulk requirements (not sure if that’s the term St. Michaels uses) in the zoning regulations such as setbacks, landscaping, ingress/egress, emergency access, light and noise control, and the like should all be used to the fullest extent possible to mitigate the negative effects of this hotel.
On another point, it is practically useless to just say things like “the traffic increase is going to be horrible”, without any supporting evidence to back it up. Talbot St (St. Michaels Rd.) carries around 6,000 vehicles a day at that location. A traffic consultant hired by the developer is going to provide an estimate of the number of vehicle trips per day (VTD) that the proposed 65-room hotel will generate. He’ll say something like “each room will generate 6 VTD (using industry standard numbers), so a total of 6×65=390 VTD onto St. Michaels Rd. This assumes all the rooms are occupied, and even then represents a 5% change in the traffic volume, within the margin of error for these kinds of projections.” To counter this argument, those opposed need to engage their own traffic consultant, or maybe an urban planner that can refute or question the testimony or report of the consultant hired by the developer.
Just saying “the traffic is bad” and “the intersection is dangerous” isn’t going to cut it.
Rebecca Ellison says
With all due respect, re: the previous comment, Talbot County doesn’t need chain hotels ‘hanging out on the main drag’ either. And, just for the record, there is already a Hampton Inn ‘on the main drag’ in Easton. It’s located on Rt. 50 next to Wawa.
It’s beyond time that the towns of Talbot County acknowledge and prioritize their common ground and common concerns with the County re: growth and development. And the County agencies need to acknowledge the impact of the towns as well and coordinate to mutual benefit.
County citizens are well aware of what a big development fight can mean. Oxford and St. Michaels each had close brushes with ‘doubling in size’ only a decade or so ago …. Those developer ‘attacks’ would have had major county impacts. Fortunately each was successfully fought off by concerned citizens, one of whom, famously, simply bought the developer’s land. Each time, The County was spared a major impact. This has never been adequately acknowledged and steps have not been taken to avoid ‘repeats’.
Not surprisingly, the governance of Trappe has been allowed to ignore its responsibilities to the rest of the County and it continues to embrace the absurd creation of an entire new municipality for the County to deal with. (Addition of 2,500 new homes AND a shopping center that will rival the Annapolis Mall equals a NEW MUNICIPALITY … for what reason???).
As this has played out for the last twenty years, Trappe has claimed that they have the ‘right to grow’ and that their growth doesn’t affect the County. They are WRONG … and they have been PROVEN WRONG. A large ongoing question is why the County Council supports and endorses a burgeoning Trappe even though Lakeside is so clearly a detriment of the County citizens they have pledged to represent.
The bottom line is that those living in St. Michaels and Trappe as well as the other Talbot towns and villages, are ALL still citizens of the COUNTY and, as such, need to recognize their joint obligations to each other and to the County which, together, they make up. The County Comprehensive Plan ultimately applies to us ALL.
By any measure,, St. Michaels businesses and governance have thoughtlessly gone overboard on the ‘tourism’ thing … the town is unrecognizable … and the ongoing negative transformation has been increasingly to the detriment of the entire County. The formation of a concerned group calling themselves ‘Warriors’ is both welcome and long overdue.
A large part of what is so good about living here is that most citizens already love the County as an entity and acknowledge and embrace responsibilities to it (as well as embrace the health and shared welfare of its component towns). Rogue activities by developers in our towns must be seen in the context of the entire county, indeed the entire Delmarva Peninsula.
Please tell us how to assist (and get in touch with) Melissa Rojas Mahoney and the Warriors of St. Michaels …. And thank you for creating such an organization.
Jay Corvan says
Agree that the hotel scale is completely out of character. This reminds me of another debacle in st mikes history , Miles point project than bankrupted the town. This too was a forced error in underlying town zoning. Typically it’s not the use that’s objectionable in most building applications , it’s the scale , the placement , and bad architecture that ruins towns
This kind of project Should have been prohibited out of hand by the zoning ordinance from the start . Euclidean Zoning , the kind of zoning in place is typically written without respect for community character. Towns like st Michaels cannot rely on old methods to Protect historic communities. The town needs an extraordinary “ form based “ zoning ordinance like the town of Denton has in place.
The town council and zoning needs to hire better consultants. Every time these disasters happen it underlies a failure of old zoning to support community character. The town recently rejected hiring the right planner for downtown , this is what happens.
This hotel scuffle should tell the people in the town the the zoning ordinance is flawed and can’t support the kind of character The town needs to protect its image. Here’s a summary of the pattern book. It’s a better way to protect the village. Please consider it. .
Denton Pattern Book(icon-pdf141 MB)
See Denton planning and zoning website.
Denton’s Architectural Pattern Book describes our town’s unique character and the essential characteristics of Denton’s built form that our citizens know and cherish. The Pattern Book also presents the public vision for perpetuating these characteristics along with strategies, applicable to both revitalization and new development projects, for achieving that goal.
D. McGuiness says
Thank you for your comments. This hotel proposal is inconsistent with the current SM Comprehensive Plan if that is a guiding document for our current Planning Commission and our town Commissioners. Supporting our historic character and the local environment are key requirements. The developer needs to show his respect for the surrounding wetlands and habitat and significantly shrink the scale of his proposed hotel.