AUBURN – It took the Planning Board less than 30 minutes to give the thumbs up to the area’s newest hotel, a Residence Inn near the Auburn Mall.

The approval for developer George Schott’s $8 million, 100-room, extended-stay hotel was in stark contrast to another hotel proposal, one that was waylaid despite a four-hour public hearing.

Platz Associates’ plan to build a $12 million, 100-room Hampton Inn & Suites will have to come back before the board, which voted unanimously to table the plan until more information could be provided. The hotel, part of an overall development plan at Great Falls, was stymied by the accompanying plans for a municipal garage that has been the Achilles heel of the project for years.

“We’re going back to look at the plans with the additional guidance from the board,” said Steve Myers, development director for Platz Associates. But in asking for more specific direction from the planners, he emphasized that one thing that would not change is the location of the proposed 330-space garage.

“The location of the parking garage won’t be in a different place when we come back in two weeks,” he assured them.

The hotels topped an agenda totaling more than $25 million in new private investment to the city. In addition to the Residence Inn, the board also approved a $1.8 million warehouse project for Gendron & Gendron; a $3 million warehouse and rail project for Safe Handling’s Ford Reiche; a new tractor-trailer storage facility for Schott on Hotel Road; and a $250,000 Royal River Estates subdivision off Eastman Lane.

But it was the Great Falls project that took up the bulk of the board’s time and attention. Members asked for more information about the hotel, including elevation and site specifications, as well as landscaping, signage and other details. They also asked for more information about a proposed bus station in front of the Esplanade housing complex, traffic flow, as well as the garage itself.

“It feels like we’re pushing something big (but) with guidelines for a little subdivision out in the country,” said Planning Board member Tim Goss, who said he thought the project needed more scrutiny.

The proposal ran into strong opposition from developer Lee Griswold, who owns the nearby Hilton Garden Inn. He said he was glad the planners asked for more time to consider the Platz project, but wouldn’t be happy until the garage was relocated nearer his hotel.

There was no public opposition to Schott’s project, which will officially break ground Wednesday. Mike Gotto of Sebago Technics, who presented the plan to the board, said the company had just received Department of Environmental Protection approval earlier that day.

“This is a time sensitive project,” he said. “We hope to get out there tomorrow.”

Schott is hoping to open the Residence Inn this fall.

The Gendron project is also eyeing the clock. The 60,000-square-foot addition to the existing 105,000-square-foot warehouse on Logistics Drive is for a prospective tenant who hopes to to occupy that space by late fall.