September 25, 2008 - A controversial decision by the Aurora City Council Tuesday will forbid hotels from being developed in the city for at least six months.

The city hopes to have a large convention center and adjoining hotel built near downtown someday, and officials worry that smaller hotels would compromise that plan.

The moratorium, put into effect Tuesday night by a 10-2 vote, will allow the city to study its building codes and the effect that smaller hotels, motels and extended-stay facilities have on the city's plans.

The moratorium also pulls the rug out from under a local businessman who had already begun the planning process for a new hotel.

Lee Fry, a Westmont-based developer, said he was "devastated" by the council's decision.

Fry, who had submitted his proposal to build a Hampton Inn near the Meijer store on Illinois Highway 59 to the city's Planning Committee, learned of the proposed moratorium when his project was pulled off the committee agenda. He petitioned to allow his project to proceed as an exception.

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