Variance request for proposed Wyndham hotel in Troy denied

By Charles Bolinger

Editor • Troy’s City Council denied a variance request to add a third story to a proposed Wyndham hotel in Troy near a trailer park and Tri-Township Park during its July 6 meeting.

Luke Behme, acting as Troy’s zoning hearing officer for this matter, issued written findings of fact and recommended that the application from Grant Ramsey with AAIC failed to satisfy the standards required to grant a variance. The city council reviewed and accepted those findings, Behme’s recommendation, the record from June 11’s public hearing and evidence submitted with the application before voting 7-0 on a resolution to reject the request.

Ramsey, working on behalf of the landowner, wanted the variance to put a three-story Wyndham Hotel next to the Casey’s at the southeast corner of Riggin and Edwardsville roads. He and the owner claim the third story was needed for the hotel to turn a profit. 

Residents of a nearby trailer park had many objections — complaints about the size of the building; fears about the types of customers it would attract; why couldn’t it go near the city’s other hotels on the west side of town; and one man said he would never get to see another sunset after the hotel were approved and built.

The site was the home of the former Troy Tri-Auto, a filling station and mechanic shop before it was demolished in 2025.

Next, the council voted on a resolution to annex one acre to the city’s territory to assist with its planned sewer treatment plant upgrade at 600 East Center Street. It was approved 7-0. 

Troy leaders approved another major item – a resolution for an agreement of engineering services with Benton and Associates for the city’s wastewater treatment facility. The council voted to approve the agreement with a 7-0 vote.

In other news, city council members approved two bids, one for resurfacing Wickliffe Street while the other bid is for the planned parking lot for 107 N. Main St. in downtown Troy. The engineer’s estimate for the Wickliffe project was $200,000. 

Five companies responded to the Wickliffe bid request, ranging from Stutz Excavating ($206,133); Brewster Companies ($199,266); Mayer Landscaping ($179,564); KRB Excavating ($159,830); and Gleeson Asphalt ($137,380). Council members approved Gleeson’s bid. Mayor David Nonn noted that Gleeson makes its own asphalt, which may account for why its bids are so much lower than other companies’ bids. 

On the 107 N. Main St. project, the engineer’s estimate was $292,042. 

“We budgeted $350,000 for that parking lot and we spent $50,000 thus far with the demolition and we buried a power line there so we wouldn’t have an overhead wire between the drive-through for Heater’s Chicken and that parking lot,” he said.

“When the bids came in, our low bid was about $50,000 over the engineer’s estimate, which would push us over-budget in the Troy Business Improvement District fund line item. However, we do have a capital outlay improvement line item that has $141,000 budgeted and we don’t have anything in particular [earmarked] for it, so even if we took that fifty out there, we would still have $91,000 in that capital improvement line [item].”

Four companies replied to the bid request. Stutz Excavating ($443,139.05); Gleeson Asphalt ($430,800.50); KRB Excavating ($369,746); and Gelly Excavating ($345,518.87). Keeven mentioned re-bidding the project to get lower bids but there was no guarantee of that and re-bidding would delay the project. The project came with a completion date of September, which might have resulted in higher bids. This would come in handy for this year’s final First Friday along with city events beyond early October.

The council voted to accept Gelly’s bid for the parking lot.

The council next authorized a resolution for city staff to execute an electric agreement with Ameren Illinois for the second phase of work to bury power lines along Market Street as part of a streetscape improvement project. The vote on that was 7-0.

Councilmen authorized the city’s annual appropriation ordinance at this meeting.

“This annual appropriation ordinance is a required step in the truth-in-taxation cycle and it sets the legal limit of spending by the city,” said Kelly Huelsmann, city treasurer. “Our City Administrator, Jay Keeven, had prepared a budget which was previously passed by the council. This ordinance increases those limits by 20% to legally allow for unexpected expenses which may be incurred.

“Additionally, a $3 million contingency fund is included to allow overspending in extreme, emergency situations only,” she said. “If there was an event where we must use an overage to the current budget and use an amount of a particular line item set by this ordinance, we would need to cut expenses in other areas to compensate for those overages.

“This ordinance in no way is intended to spend beyond the limits of the existing, approved budget but to plan for the unexpected and be legally covered when those unforeseen expenses arise. Once approved, this ordinance will be used to write the tax levy ordinance in December.”

Finally, the council approved 11 water service and pre-annexation agreements. Councilman Nathan Henderson was absent.

The next Troy City Council meeting is July 20, 2026 at 6:30 p.m. in Troy City Hall, 116 E. Market St.