The Lower Towamensing Township Zoning Hearing Board granted a special exception and six of the seven variances Tuesday evening being sought by Blue Mountain Resort regarding its Vista Lodge hotel/condominium.

The board met in April, but due to the variances being contested by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the National Park Service, the decision was postponed.

Zoning hearing board Chairman James Ord read the decision, which was seconded by fellow board member James DeRosa.

The variances that were granted involved the lot width requirements; front, rear and side setbacks; maximum lot coverage; exemption from the open space requirements; exemption from paving the parking lot, a stormwater management requirement, and a special exemption to the building height ordinance.

The ordinance limits the height to 50 feet. The hotel would be 85 feet tall.

The board denied a variance on the number of parking spaces required for the new hotel.

At the first hearing, Edward Hughes, an attorney with Hughes, Kalkbrenner and Ozorowski in Plymouth Meeting, said the resort does not need to add more parking, because the number of guests is not increasing. They are simply providing lodging for the guests they usually get, who have had to find accommodations elsewhere.

“We feel it needs to be addressed more concretely,” Ord said after the second hearing about the denied variance.

Barbara Green, president and CEO of Blue Mountain Resort, said, “I look forward to explaining it.”

She thinks the variance requests were appropriate and the approval of them is “a good step forward.”

“It makes sense for our property to have (the hotel) close to the current lodge,” she said.

Vista Lodge is designed to sit behind the current Summit Lodge. Its property comes within five feet of the easement for the Appalachian Trail, which lies about another 300 to 400 feet away.

Had the variances been denied, the resort would have had to rethink its plans. Moving the hotel to the side of the Summit Lodge was not an option do to the steep grade, Hughes said in the first hearing.

Now that the variances were granted, the resort has the option to resubmit its plans to the Lower Towamensing Township Planning Commission or wait a month. The township’s zoning officer Duane Dellecker said the National Park Service, which was deemed to have standing at the first hearing, has the option to appeal within 30 days to the Carbon County Court of Common Pleas. If it doesn’t appeal, then the resort is free to resubmit its plan for approval of the use.

Vista Lodge is proposed to be a six-story hotel with studio, penthouse, and one-, two- or three-bedroom condominiums. Each unit would come fully furnished with a full kitchen. The resort hopes to have it open by fall 2019.