AUGUSTA -- Months of debate on a zone change to make way for a proposed hotel off Western Avenue came down to a tie-breaking vote by Mayor Roger Katz Monday.

The mayor, who only votes when councilors are deadlocked, voted in favor of it, giving the zone change a 5-4 approval.

But that still doesn't mean the hotel will be built.

The hotel proposal itself will still have to go through the Planning Board approval process.

Planners twice rejected the proposed zone change, but Katz and councilors who voted in favor of the change approved it after extensive debate Monday. Katz said the property, at 254 Western Ave., is the only remaining residentially zoned property in that immediate area.

"This particular lot will never be residential," Katz said. "It's now an island, surrounded by commercial development."

Other local hotel owners fought against the zone change since it was first proposed. They said changing the zone would amount to preferential treatment, and be unfair to existing businesses.

"We're not milking the cash cow on Whitten Road and laughing our way to the bank," said Alec Rogers, co-owner, with his wife Julie, of the Quality Inn & Suites Maine Evergreen Hotel on Whitten Road. "We've embraced the changing times and have invested in Augusta. So I have a stake in this, yes, I admit that. But I'm not the one asking for preferential treatment."

Only the rear portion of the lot has to be rezoned to allow a hotel. The back portion was zoned residential, while the front is already in a commercial zone.

Peter Anastos, a principal owner of Freeport-based Maine Course Hospitality Group, is proposing to build a Hampton Inn with about 90 rooms on the lot just off Western Avenue behind the Beneficial financial services building, next to the new Augusta Crossing shopping center exit road.

Anastos said only a portion of the proposed hotel's parking lot would be built on the area of the lot currently zoned residential.

He said because the front portion of the lot is already zoned for commercial uses, if the hotel doesn't get built, another, smaller commercial business would likely build on the front portion of the lot.

But he warned a physically smaller business would not necessarily have a lesser impact.

He said the most likely use, if not a hotel, would be a fast-food restaurant.

He said the hotel would likely be worth about $5 million, compared to much less than $1 million for a fast-food restaurant, and thus would generate much more property tax revenue for the city.

And, he said, with much less traffic. He said a fast-food restaurant would generate about five times the amount of traffic as a hotel.

"A hotel would be an extremely quiet use compared to fast food," Anastos said of the impact on neighbors. "Think of the (restaurant) drive through speaker box, until midnight every night, you'd hear 'What do you want -- a burger and fries?'"

Linda Conti, a member of the Planning Board, noted planners considered the proposal carefully before voting, 7-1, against the zone change.

"When someone comes and says 'change the law for me,' we take that very seriously, especially in an area like this where you have residential and commercial bumping up against each other," Conti said.

"The Planning Board is not for sale. We're saying we need to have residential areas in the city, as well as commercial areas."

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com