Council Rejects Plan for 26-Unit Motel

About 25 house and condominium owners persuaded the City Council to vote against a proposed 26-unit motel near their neighborhood, despite a petition-gathering effort financed by a developer.

Residents successfully argued that the proposed Friendship Inn at 280 N. Wilshire Ave. would increase traffic, attract transient residents and reduce property values in the central Anaheim neighborhood, where residents have lived for as many as 35 years.

The residents also said that those living nearest to the motel site were never approached with petitions circulated by Petition Management, a Cerritos-based company specializing in collecting signatures. Friendship Inn hired the company and paid more than 50 cents per signature, said Jeanne Nusse, company vice president.

Nusse told the council she was unsure if any of the 1,566 signatures gathered were from the concerned residents present at Tuesday night’s council meeting. She said 86% of those polled favored the motel.

“I thought it was really interesting to see the City Council ignore the requests of more than 1,500 people, for the special interests of a handful of people at the council meeting,” Nusse said.

Council members voted 3-0 against the plan, which they said was well-drafted, but its location was inappropriate.

“Fine project, wrong location,” Mayor Fred Hunter said.

The nationwide motel chain Econo Lodge is the parent company to the Orange County-based Friendship Inn.