Developer Ed St. George’s plans for a new nine-room hotel slated for the perpetually vacant lot at the intersection of Montecito and Castillo Streets came in for a withering critique at the hands of Historic Landmarks Commissioner Ed Lenvik last week. “We expect street facades to be pedestrian-friendly. I find this to be the most pedestrian-unfriendly element of anything we can imagine other than the Bank of America building,” said Lenvik, referring to the 100-foot-long stretch of uninterrupted building wall on the mountain side of the 800 block of State Street. Lenvik termed the plans “unacceptable.” ⁠ ⁠ Less biting in tone was commissioner Steve Hausz, who described the proposed hotel frontage simply as “just not friendly.” He said the mouth of the parking lot intruded aggressively right up to the sidewalk. ⁠ ⁠ To read the full story, click on the link in our bio or visit independent.com. | Image credit: Courtesy