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The advice of the City, to submit a "text amendment" to a Hearing Examiner process is simply evading the intent of the law.

A "text amendment" simply changes the ALLOWED USES in a zone, without changing the name of the zone. That is a re-zone in a pair of silly looking pajamas. It should be called a re-zone and processed like a re-zone.

The Growth Management Act required that "zoning" be done in the Comprehensive Plan process. This is an open, inclusive, and well-defined process.

The process for Comprehensive Plan amendments includes:

a) Application by a citizen, landowner, or organization;

b) Consideration by the City Council as to whether it SHOULD be considered;

c) A processing fee;

d) A supplemental Environmental Impact Statement -- not a "determination of non-significant impact"

e) A public hearing before the Planning Commission

f) A public recorded recommendation by the Planning Commission;

g) A final approval or rejection by the elected city council, not the appointed hearing examiner.

Allowing a change in zoning via a "text amendment" that does not change the zoning map is horsefeathers. Just another way to deny the public the right to fully participate in the decision, AFTER the environmental impacts are examined.

In this case, changing from "hotel" to "apartment" would mean very different traffic patterns, in an area that is already traffic-challenged. A supplemental EIS is the right way to examine these kinds of impacts. That's what is required in a Comprehensive Plan amendment process. And it is what is needed.