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SCOTTSDALE — A proposal to build a hotel along a busy Scottsdale freeway has some locals worried about their mountain views.

The office and retail project, known as Scottsdale Epicenter, calls for a hotel up to five stories high along Loop 101.

Because the current maximum building height there is 36 feet, the city would have to amend the site's development standards, said Steve Venker, liaison for Scottsdale's Development Review Board.

The Coalition of Pinnacle Peak, a group of north Scottsdale activists, said changing the standards would be unacceptable, and a tall hotel would ruin views of the McDowell Mountains and would be out of character with the area.

But state officials point out that developers will pay nearly $1 billion in rent over the life of the 99-year lease — money they've said is slated to be used statewide for teachers' salaries and to reduce public-school-classroom sizes.

The 125-acre parcel of state trust land for Epicenter was auctioned off last year by the State Land Department. Scottsdale Vistella, a subsidiary of New York-based Levine Buil-ders, was the winning bidder.

Scottsdale's Development Review Board recently approved roadway and landscape plans for Epicenter and another major project known as the Scottsdale Quarter, billed as the city's answer to the French Quarter in New Orleans.

Scottsdale Quarter calls for tearing down Dial Corp.'s current 200,000-square-foot headquarters at Scottsdale Airpark and replacing it with a 1.2 million-square-foot commercial, entertainment and residential district.

The first phase of construction is under way and includes four commercial buildings and two garages. A possible third phase could include condos and a hotel.

Dial is expected to move its offices later this year to a 340,000-square-foot building under construction in north Scottsdale.