The Columbia Falls City Council on Monday night approved plans for a multimillion-dollar hotel, the first of its kind in city limits.

The first phase of the hotel would have 64 rooms and a 3,000-square-foot conference room for 200 people off U.S. 2 next to Pinewood Park. The land has been vacant for years and was formerly a mobile home and row-house park. One row house remains and will be removed.

The hotel also has a second phase that would add 18 rooms, if demand warrants them.

The hotel is being constructed by Ruis Holdings headed by partners Mick Ruis and Rod Shaw. The hotel, to be called Cedar Creek Lodge and Convention Center, is modeled after lodges in Glacier National Park with open beam timbers and sharply pitched roofs.

The one sticking point during Monday’s public hearing centered around parking.

The planned unit development crafted for the project initially had asked the developers to share the cost in reconstructing Second Avenue West so it would have diagonal parking. The street parking would ease some of the parking concerns with the project since it won’t have the required spaces under the zoning codes for both a hotel and a convention center.

Shaw said it wasn’t fair for the developers to shoulder costs of parking spots over which they would have no control. Mayor Don Barnhart and the rest of council agreed and took out the language in the planned unit development that would require the cost sharing.

“I think we need to buy into this,” Barnhart said.

City Manager Susan Nicosia said the street upgrades likely would cost the city about $180,000. The city would have to shift money from its $400,000 street budget to cover them.

Even with the additional street parking, the project would still fall about 18 spaces short of the requirements under the zoning, but developers argue that the hotel guests generally stay at night while convention center attendees would use spaces during the day.

Two neighbors raised concerns about noise and parking, but Shaw noted it was in the hotel’s best interest to keep noise down and he promised the building would be attractive with controlled lighting. The developers are also taking pains to buy materials locally, including trusses from Western Building Center.

A big round of applause went up when the council approved the project. City Manager Susan Nicosia said a building permit for the project could be in hand in the next few days. The developers want to break ground this fall so Cedar Creek can be open by next summer.

Ruis recently bought several other properties in the city in the downtown district, where he has indicated plans for a blend of housing, retail and a restaurant, though no formal applications have been made at this point.