Plan for hotel stirs up Friendswood neighbors

The possibility of a hotel going up at San Joaquin Parkway and FM 528 in Friendswood has nearby residents upset.
Mayor David Smith said the city's Planning and Zoning Commission has approved a plan for a Sleep Inn on 7 acres. The land has been zoned for commercial use since 1984, but residents of the nearby Boca Raton and San Joaquin Estates subdivisions object.
They've got concerns with safety and the possibility of transients coming in to town," Smith said. They're very upset and emotional about it."
Smith said that the Planning and Zoning Commission's approval of the plat doesn't mean that the hotel will ever be built. The hotel would need a building permit and other approvals before construction could begin, he said.
It's a mixed bag," he said. When you don't know what something's going to look like or what the effect is going to be, there's always fear."
Smith said he too has mixed feelings about the potential hotel.
I hate residents having their lives potentially affected, but I also know that our community is going to continue to grow," he said. If it's not a hotel or motel being built on the property, something else will. Anything that goes there is not going to be up to the standards of the nearby residents."