Vista Lodge Development Corp. LLC, owner of Blue Mountain Ski Resort in Palmerton, is ready to pursue plans for its Vista Lodge hotel and condominium development, but first it needs eight zoning variances.

Lower Towamensing Township Zoning Officer Duane Dellecker denied its petition for the variances on Feb. 21, citing that the requests regarding frontage and yard should go before the township’s zoning hearing board. The appeal is set to be heard at a public meeting at 7:30 p.m. on April 18.According to the appeals application, Vista Lodge Residence Club would be a six-story hotel built on 1.95 acres near Summit Lodge on Summit Lodge Road. The hotel would consist of 80 condo units.The lodge is expected to have a penthouse, studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom condominiums, that will be fully furnished and will have full kitchens.According to the website, the hotel amenities and services will include: a member’s club room, fitness center, heated pool, hot tubs, spa services, valet service, bell service, concierge services, daily housekeeping and complete year-round property management.“Lodging within a 30-minute drive of our resort is limited,” Barbara Green, president and CEO of Blue Mountain said in an earlier news release.“We are extremely confident that rental demand for the Vista Lodge will be incredible.”The hotel condo will be located near an existing ski trail so that guests can easily ski in and out. It will also be placed adjacent to the Summit Lodge in order to give out-of-town guests attending a wedding or corporate function a convenient place to stay.During a Carbon County Commissioners’ meeting last week, Green told commissioners she expects the Vista Lodge to cost about $28 million. The resort’s website said the lodge will be completed by fall 2019.But before that can happen, those variances are needed.Blue Mountain is seeking variances that involve the width of the lot, setbacks, lot coverage, height of the building, open space, Summit Road, and parking spaces and lots. Some of the variances are considerably different from the zoning ordinance, while others are less.For instance, the zoning ordinance for the required lot width is 300 feet for this type of development. Blue Mountain’s design places the condominium on 225 feet.Similarly, the setbacks are zoned to be 50 feet on the front, rear and sides. Blue Mountain’s application requests 5-foot setbacks, but Dellecker said in a letter to Blue Mountain that the plans show a 38.7-foot setback on the front, sides at 35.7 feet and 31.58 feet and the rear yard at 12.2 feet.As far as lot coverage, the zoning standard is 25 percent. Blue Mountain requested 90 percent lot coverage.The zoning standard for the height of a building is 50 feet. The Vista Lodge is designed to be 85 feet tall.As far as the parking spaces, the zoning standard calls for required spaces and the parking surface to be asphalt, concrete or paving block and lined. Blue Mountain is requesting to use the existing spaces in the gravel parking lot, because “there are no additional guests to the resort,” according to its application.Dellecker said in his letter to the resort that the ordinance requires one off-street space per rental unit plus one per four seats in any meeting room, and additional seats for any restaurant.“The application, as submitted, makes the argument that the hotel is simply providing existing ski resort guests with a place to stay. … It is the opinion of this office that additional off-street parking will be required in accordance,” Dellecker wrote.