NATCHEZ — Developers of the former Eola Hotel building are expected to appear before the Natchez Board of Aldermen 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Interim City Planner Riccardo Giani and the Natchez Planning Commission denied renovation plans for the first floor of the hotel last month.

The developers, including the building’s owner, Robert Lubin, hope to renovate the historic hotel into upscale senior living apartments.

Giani said the previously submitted plans for the first floor did not satisfy the requirements of the city code for the central business district in which the Eola is located.

The historic downtown district zone requires public access to all first-floor businesses, and must be pedestrian friendly, Giani said, and the submitted plans did not include enough public areas on the first floor.

Lubin will appeal the Natchez Planning Commission’s upholding of Giani’s denial in Tuesday’s public hearing before the aldermen.

Local attorney Tony Heidelberg, who represents the developers’ interests, said the plans presented Tuesday would be different from the ones submitted to Giani and the commission.

“The ordinance does not require 100-percent public availability,” Heidelberg said, “However, my architect and owner said they have no issue with making first floor 100-percent (public.)”

Heidelberg said areas that were marked tenant-only or semi-public, such as a game room, exercise room, and a private dining room, will be re-imagined as public spaces on the copy of the plans that will go before the aldermen.

When the developers appeared before the planning commission, Giani said their verbal presentation differed from the submitted plans.

The presentation, Giani said, was satisfactory, and he and the commission “saw the light” of what the developers were intending for the building.

“It seems we’re denying the plans, and they’re appealing and fighting us, but this is how it had to be to bring it to public hearing and put it on the record,” Giani said.

The developers will bring plans to the aldermen that reflect the changes that the commission seemed to appreciate at the meeting, Heidelberg said.

“I found pursuant to the meeting that they were very satisfied with the presentation,” Heidelberg said. “If (the aldermen) say nay, we go back to the drawing board and resubmit.”