Size continued to be an issue for the designers of a seven-story hotel development project as they sought approval from the Historic Resources Commission Thursday night at City Hall.

Their revised plans that added height to the project, dubbed “Eldridge on the Hill,” didn’t get them closer to an answer.

The commission could not reach an agreement and deferred it until its next monthly meeting for further review. The commission’s responsibility is to determine whether the multi-use building on the corner of 12th and Indiana streets would “encroach upon, damage or destroy” the historic environs, or surrounding area, of a landmark home and other residents on12th Street. The property is within the environs of the Hancock District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

“It gets bigger every time I see it,” said Michael Sizemore, chairman of the commission and an architect.

He said though the area has changed over time, it has maintained a “neighborhood feel.”

“There is no way this building would give you that feel,” he said.

“Eldridge on the Hill” would include five floors of hotel rooms, as well as 30 residential rooms on the top two floors. The first floor is designed to be the largest, filling the footprint of the project area. Each subsequent floor will be smaller than the one below it. A restaurant, lounge, retail space and rooftop terraces also would be included. The entire development area will encompass about a half-acre.

Paul Werner, project architect, and Tim Homburg, with NSPJ Architects,presented revised designs to the commission that added 30,000 feet of space. It included an observatory on the top floor. Homburg said people could take an elevator to the top of the building and “get an unencumbered 360 degree view of Lawrence.”

They also moved the building 20 feet north, farther away from 12th Street. A parcel was added in the back of the building, on the north end, which allowed for a larger footprint, and, in turn, more parking spaces underneath. The original proposal included 150 parking spaces; the new proposal has 188.

Homburg said seven stories are necessary because in order to have other amenities such as a restaurant, a hotel has to have so many rooms or occupants it knows will use the facility. In this case, that’s 100 to 110 hotel rooms.

Overall, the commission applauded the project’s applicants, Thomas Fritzel of Triple T LLC; Werner, principal architect; and Homburg, for responding to concerns of members of the Oread Neighborhood Association, who live in the area.

The commission was split, however, on whether the size was necessary for the project to serve its purpose. There were also concerns over traffic congestion. The designers included a traffic circle and a median to straighten the intersection of 12th and Indiana streets. This aligns the hotel with Oread Avenue, creating 90 degree turns and fixing a “dysfunctional intersection,” Werner said.

Mixed feelings were apparent in the few members of the public who attended the meeting.

“It’s a mixed bag here as far as the LPA is concerned,” said Dennis Brown, president of the Lawrence Preservation Alliance.

State Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, a member of the Oread Neighborhood Association, supports the project and its location.

“It wouldn’t destroy and encroach, but it would solidify and enhance the neighborhood,” she said.

She and Carol Von Tersch, who for 29 years has lived in Snow House on Indiana Street across from where the hotel would be, said the project could help preserve the area economically. For example, individuals would be more willing to invest in their homes, she said.

Another longtime Oread resident, Betty Alderson, approved of the retail use but not the height. Alderson used to walk by the area that always included retail on her way to class about 50 years ago, she said.

“If you take the top three floors off, it’s really quite nice,” she said.