EAST TAMPA - The city council will take its final vote Thursday on a planned four-story hotel on Columbus Drive, east of 50th Street and an Interstate 4 exit.

The project received initial council approval Nov. 29, with John Dingfelder and Linda Saul-Sena voting against it. Saul-Sena said a restaurant or store would mesh better with the neighborhood.

A request to vacate an alley that divides the 2½-acre site was approved unanimously, with Mary Mulhern absent.

The hotel proposal faces opposition from residents who hope to persuade the council to reverse its decision at the 9:30 a.m. hearing at city hall, 315 E. Kennedy Blvd.

"I don't need a hotel in my neighborhood," said Valerie Washington, president of the Florence Villa/Beasley/Oak Park Civic Association. "It's near the residential side of my neighborhood."

Washington said she planned to send a letter to the council opposing the hotel. The developers did not meet with the neighborhood association to discuss their project, she said.

The project requires several waivers, including for four stories and an 80-foot sign to beckon I-4 motorists. Developers want to rezone several parcels at 5010 and 5018 E. Columbus Drive and 5011, 5018 and 5021 E. 17th Ave. from commercial and residential to planned development.

The sale of the properties is pending the council's vote.

A handful of residents spoke against the hotel at the first hearing, raising concerns that the room rates might attract prostitution and other crime. They also worried about more traffic.

Bob Smith, representing Maitland-based Liberty VP East Tampa, said the hotel would be extended-stay only at a rate of about $230 a week or about $30 a night. No single-night rentals would be allowed, he said, and guests staying longer than a week would have to check out and check back in. That would prevent permanent tenancy, said Smith, who anticipates mostly businessmen checking into the hotel. Hotel entry would be from Columbus, not from neighborhood streets.

The site is outside the East Tampa community redevelopment area bordered by interstates 275 and 4, Hillsborough Avenue and the city limits. The city and a neighborhood coalition are working to revitalize the community through reinvestment of the area's property tax revenues.

A project to remodel the Milner Hotel, on the west side of 50th, has support from the coalition's board, which recommended contributing about $684,000 to the project.

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 835-2103 or ksteele@tampatrib.com.