Members of a Raleigh City Council committee rejected plans for a downtown Marriott hotel Wednesday, objecting to the fake stucco on the building's tower.

By a 3-1 vote, the committee dealt a tough blow to the Marriott, a major piece of Raleigh's downtown revival being paid for in part with $20 million in taxpayer help.

The 400-room hotel is linked to the city's new $215 million convention center and is crucial to its success. Raleigh leaders also hope the hotel's ground-level shops and restaurants will draw pedestrians back to sleepy Fayetteville Street after it reopens to traffic.

Wednesday's vote does not kill the project; the hotel plans must go before the full eight-member council next week for approval.

But a thumbs-down vote from the Comprehensive Planning committee does not help its chances. Also, the debate over synthetic stucco -- or EIFS, pronounced "EE-fuss" or "EYE-fuss" -- to be used on the hotel's tower shows no sign of simmering down.

"This is totally unacceptable," said council member Thomas Crowder, who leads the committee. "I'm not going to support a hotel with EIFS on it. Period."

Council members want the hotel to be a jewel that welcomes conventioneers and boosts the city's skyline.

EIFS, some say, is cheap and unattractive. Crowder noted that original plans called for extensive use of stone, masonry, metal and wood.

"If it would have been EIFS," he said, "I wouldn't be talking to you right now."

Meeker: 'get moving'

The committee and hotel developers have spent 90 days going back and forth, a pace that brought Mayor Charles Meeker, who is not a member of the committee, to Wednesday's meeting.

"It's time we get moving," Meeker said.

Council members wouldn't speculate about what would happen if the full council follows the committee's lead. For now, the hotel is scheduled to open along with the convention center in 2008.

Crowder voted to deny along with Russ Stephenson and Tommy Craven, who wanted to take more time to discuss the issue in committee.

There is the chance that Stephenson could be drawn back to vote for the hotel. A new council member, he backed the hotel while he was on the city's Planning Commission.

An architect like Crowder, Stephenson's opposition to EIFS is strong, though. He and other members worry that the Marriott does not offer a grand enough entrance for convention-goers on Salisbury Street, and that pedestrians will have little to see on the Lenoir Street side.

"I want people coming out of the convention center to say, 'There it is,' " Stephenson said.

Mitesh Shah, president of Atlanta-based Noble Investment Group, which will own the hotel, said he is confident an agreement can be struck. He assured council members that EIFS is durable material used on Ritz-Carlton hotels and that it is not an attempt to cheapen the Marriott.

"We knew going in people had passionate feelings over this hotel," he said. "It's not frustrating in the least bit. We'll get through this, and it will be a wonderful building."

Shah said he will not draw a line in the sand, but he told council members his group was prepared to discuss the Fayetteville Street entrance and front door -- but not EIFS.

Meeker said the full council probably will hold a special meeting on the Marriott after next Tuesday's council meeting.

Council member Philip Isley said he has not followed the details, But he is encouraged that the developers keep returning with new drawings, trying to satisfy the council.

It helps to get an endorsement from a council committee, he said, but a denial is not fatal.

"We all have our own thoughts," Isley said.

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