City Council To Consider Revoking License for Waite Park Hotel

WAITE PARK -- A Waite Park hotel may have to close. The Waite Park city council will consider revoking the license of the Asteria Hotel during their meeting Monday.

City Administrator Shaunna Johnson says the consideration for revocation started after a complaint from a resident regarding the room conditions.

It prompted our building department to go out and do some inspections. There was some roof leaking issues that created some water and moisture issues in the hotel rooms.

She says that led to the city to take a further look, which brought up other concerning factors such as length of guest stay, number of police calls and building code violations.

The Stearns County Environmental Services department has already closed a portion of the hotel due to health concerns.

Johnson says the council will have a few options to consider.

If they just take action to revoke, under the hotel ordinance it does revoke the license for one year. The council could just revoke the license for a certain period of time or choose to let the property owner to make the repairs.

During the meeting, the property owner will be able to address the council to share his thoughts on the city's findings before action is taken.

If the license is revoked, the property owner would be allow to reapply for a new hotel license after one year.

A call to the hotel for comment was made, however the manager on site declined to comment at this time.