Knightdale — A developer wants to build a five-story hotel at I-540 and Knightdale Boulevard.

Shyam Ram, whose family owns hotels across the Southeast, is petitioning the Knightdale Town Council to rezone the 1.55-acre parcel from a neighborhood mixed use district to one with conditions to allow a Hampton Inn to be five stories instead of four.

The mixed-use district zoning doesn’t allow buildings above four stories.

The proposal from the developer to avoid this restriction is to screen the hotel from I-540 to its west.

The proposal calls for plants to be planted on a small parcel of land owned by N.C. Department of Transportation. The plantings would have to be approved by DOT.

While not adjacent to any neighborhoods, the Hampton Inn is 280 feet from homes in the Planters Walk subdivision. Plans for the 90-room hotel include an enclosed pool and 1,000 square feet of meeting space.

The Land Use Review Board met June 9 and recommended five additional conditions for the zoning change.

It tied the approval of zoning for the developer to create a pedestrian walkway across Knightdale Boulevard from Hinton Oaks Boulevard.

It also recommended that more stormwater needs to be collected on the site. The decision of the LURB also called for the hotel’s signs to match the Planter’s Walk signs at Big Oak Court, its planned access from Hinton Oaks Boulevard.

The board also advised the need of a turn lane in advance of Lynnwood Road.

The final condition is for the landscape to coordinate with what is planned by the Gateway Committee for the I-540 area.

The proposal is scheduled to be heard at a Town Council meeting on July 7.