It's unclear whether plans to build a Four Seasons-like luxury hotel across from Stanford Research Park will go forward, after Palo Alto's Planning and Transportation Commission on Wednesday approved a zoning change that would allow for future development but said the hotel doesn't meet those zoning requirements.

"It doesn't quack like a duck; it doesn't walk like a duck," commissioner Arthur Keller said.

The meeting was ostensibly to discuss whether a zoning "overlay" should be added in light of hotel plans.

Yet commissioner Lee Lippert argued that the merits of the hotel project itself were irrelevant to the real question at hand – whether a stretch of Page Mill Road between El Camino Real and Alma Street is appropriate for a commercial designation rather than its current residential zone.

The commission voted unanimously (6-0) to extend the boundary of the so-called Pedestrian and Transit Oriented Combining District (PTOD) to include 441 Page Mill Road, with commissioner Karen Holman absent.

Yet they also said the hotel may not fit into the new zoning overlay, leaving the project in limbo.

The commercial designation, created especially for the California Avenue area, was meant to encourage pedestrian-friendly, denser development near public transit, including the nearby Caltrain stop and bus routes.

The new commercial designation, called a zone overlay, will allow the area to be more easily re-zoned for commercial uses.

But that doesn't mean the hotel -- projected by the city to bring in up to $950,000 in annual taxes -- will be able to move in.

The four-story, 78-room structure proposed by the Shashi Corporation would cover four lots and include "world-class amenities" such as a high-end restaurant and bar, according to corporation CEO Dipesh Gupta.

The hotel was notably toned down Wednesday from its summer appearance before the city's Architectural Review Board, following a series of meetings with neighbors and a complete redrawing of plans. The board had earlier delivered a scathing review, vowing the project would never pass unless tailored to better fit the neighborhood – and Palo Alto as a whole.

Initial drawings showed a five-story, glass-plated box of 100 guest rooms looming above Page Mill Road. The new designs show a smaller hotel with a brick-and-beige façade with a variety of window sizes and setbacks.

Although commissioners praised efforts to restyle the property, they questioned whether it met the requirements of the special California Avenue zone.

The hotel complex doesn't clearly increase connectivity between existing and planned pedestrian and bicycle facilities, nor encourage public transportation, according to a city staff report.

Although Gupta said the hotel is close to the train station, the report notes the distance is more than a half mile. Gupta said the hotel would allow business visitors to the research park to walk rather than drive to the area, but commissioners were unconvinced that such an argument would be enough to match the PTOD requirement of encouraging pedestrian use.

They were also unconvinced that the new design is especially pedestrian friendly, despite its smaller, less intimidating make-over and a sidewalk-front dining and café.

And neighbors – who appeared in force to protest the deluxe development in June – remain dissatisfied.

A hotel will never be a good use near the four single-family homes abutting the site, no matter how much work Gupta and architects put into addressing noise, landscaping and other concerns, resident Alissa Shook said.

Now, the Shashi Corporation's reworked plans will come before the city's ARB once more, and later return to the Planning and Transportation Commission. Yet given commissioners' hesitance to express approval on Wednesday – and their request to city staff to study which zone would be best for the site – the future of the proposed luxury hotel on Page Mill Road is murky. n