Santa Barbara’s iconic beachfront resort is getting bigger, despite opposition from a local union.

The Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort, originally built in 1981, will add 73 rooms and pave over its tennis courts as part of an expansion of the hotel, at 633 E. Cabrillo Blvd.

The Planning Commission approved the project in May, but Unite Here Local 11 appealed the decision to the City Council on Tuesday. The union argued that the development agreement expired and that a promised 100-room affordable hostel was never built as part of the 2016 agreement.

The council voted 6-0 to deny the appeal.

Councilwoman Meagan Harmon showed empathy for the union, but said the development was “pretty clear,” even if she didn’t agree with it.

“We need to honor our word,” Harmon said. “Not only are there litigation risks, but there are broader risks about not only what we are saying to our developers, but anyone who wishes to engage with the city.”

The tension centered on the Parker family, which owns the hotel, and the agreement they entered into to build a low-cost affordable hostel. The Parker family built a hostel, at the time called the Wayfarer, but then sold it and it was rebranded as the Moxy, where some rooms rent for $600 a night.

However, the 2016 development agreement called on the construction of the hostel, but what exactly constitutes a hostel going forward is unclear. Although it remains a hostel, there are not restrictions on the cost to rent those rooms. The city is conducting a separate investigation into the matter.

“I don’t think I would make the deal that was made in 2016 today,” Harmon said.

City Councilman Mike Jordan said the hostel leans more toward “glamping” instead of camping.

Assistant City Attorney Tava Ostrenger noted that she was not affiliated with the city in 2016, but that looking back the city should have cut a different deal that prevented the building from becoming an expensive “hotel hostel,” where there’s a communal bathroom, and not a bathroom attached to every room.

Regardless, she said, the development agreement, which has been extended five times, did not expire and that the hostel issue is separate from the Parker family’s ability to expand the hotel.

“They have satisfied their obligations,” Ostrenger said. “They have invested a lot of money into this project. They deserve to be able to move forward with this project and rely on the terms of the development agreement.”

Eli Parker, president of Parker Enterprises and son of actor Fess Parker, who originally built the Hilton hotel when it was called the Red Lyon Inn, spoke to the council on Tuesday about the significance of the hotel.

“The Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort is the cornerstone of Santa Barbara’s hospitality economy,” Parker said. “This project will preserve a key local and visitor-serving property and enhance our city’s reputation as a premier coastal destination that contributes significance to the local economy.”

The hotel plans to demolish the tennis courts and tennis shop, reconfigure six guest rooms and add 50,195 square feet to an existing building to create a total of 433 rooms. The number of parking spaces would shrink from 931 spaces to 880 spaces, but bicycle parking spaces would increase from 58 to 100.

The development would occur at the westerly portion of the project site, toward South Calle Cesar Chavez.

The hotel is a destination for weddings, conferences and events, and has been a tourism destination for decades. It was built by the Fess Parker family in 1986. It was originally known as the Fess Parker Red Lyon Inn, then the Fess Parker DoubleTree, and then the Hilton in 2018.

As part of the approval, the developers donated 2.1 acres of grass facing Cabrillo Boulevard as public open space, even though it looks like space that belongs to the hotel.

Across Calle Cesar Chavez, the Parker family also owns the development rights to build a 150-room waterfront hotel. The site is currently fenced off. The developers plan to transfer some of the development rights from that hotel to the Hilton project.

City Councilwoman Wendy Santamaria said the city needs to find ways to provide affordable places for people to stay at the waterfront, and improve its standards with development agreements.

“It is my goal that future development agreements don’t result in what feels like a bait and switch,” Santamaria said. “We were promised low-cost accommodations, and years later we don’t have them.”