Sedona City Council Decides Major Plan Amendments

By Staff Writer | Sedona.biz
 
(Sedona, Arizona) - Over a two day period beginning at the Sedona City Council's regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, November 28th at 6:00PM in the Council Chambers at 102 Roadrunner Drive in Sedona, and rolling over to Wednesday, November 29th at 5:30PM in the same location, the City Council held public meetings to hear the final proposal from ILX Resorts (Los Abrigados) and Fitch Industries on their major plan amendments for the Villages at Heritage Park and the Sedona Cultural Center, respectively.

Villages at Heritage Park:  ILX Corporation (d/b/a Los Abrigados) previously submitted a major amendment to the Sedona Community Plan requesting that a mixed use development be approved on 22 acres of land on both sides of Brewer Road, south and west of the Ranger Road intersection; known as the Villages at Heritage Park.  The proposed development includes 82 timeshare units, 8 residential condominium units, 9 workforce housing units, public parking, 8 acres of natural open space, and approximately 2,700 square feet of retail space. There will also be education-related facilities coined "The Sedona Project."  ILX recently eliminated a proposed 12 unit hotel and a parking structure from its plan to address City staff concerns.

On September 19, 2006, the P&Z recommended the plan to the City Council, making it likely that it will be approved. The City Manager and the Community Development staff also support the proposal.

November 28th Update:  Passed: 6 for 0 against.

Sedona Cultural Park:  The original Cultural Park opened in May, 2000 to great fanfare.  It was built to provide a venue for performances of music, dance, theater and a full range of cultural and educational programs. Unfortunately, the Park ran into financial difficulty in 2002 and filed for bankruptcy and ceased operation shortly thereafter.  Some have said that its 5,000 seat amphitheater could simply not be filled, and a smaller amphitheater would have been more appropriate.

The Park's 44 acre site was then purchased by Sathcupa LLC, which stands for Save the Cultural Park, and sat dormant and in disrepair until 2006.  In October 2006, Sathcupa LLC announced that it had gone into escrow with Fitch Industries, a family-owned and operated corporation which, among other activities, owns and operates senior communities such as Prescott Lakes Senior Community in Prescott, Arizona.

In early October, Fitch submitted a major plan amendment to the Cultural Park to the City, and presented it to the Planning & Zoning Commission on November 6, 2006.  However, the P&Z decided not to recommend the plan to the City Council.  Although, the City Council may still decide to approve Fitch's proposal at the November 29th meeting, it appears unlikely.

Fitch's most recent proposal deals only with the 22 acre southern portion of the 44-acre Cultural Park because this is the portion most consistent with the City Council's original approval when the Park was first built.

According to Fitch, this area will continue to support arts and culture in Sedona while preserving 9 acres of natural open space and access to the US Forest Service trailhead. 

It will also provide affordable workforce housing, which is an important objective of the Sedona City Council, that will include 40 live/work residential units mostly for artists.  80 lodging units are also being proposed, and a resort is also being considered.

Although there will be an amphitheater, it will have 1,500-2,000 seats instead of 5,000.  Fitch is also proposing a 150-200 seat indoor performing arts center and the creation of a 6.5 acre "Sedona Village" that will contain artist galleries as well as coffee houses, a museum, an elder hostel, and other retail shops.

Fitch has also said that it would like to expand the area to include live/work space for Yavapai College, but the College has said that is does not support some of Fitch's proposals.  No agreement with the College has been reached.

The City Manager is generally not supportive of the Fitch proposal for three reasons.  First, a 60-day required review period has not been met.  Second, it is unclear how much the commercial aspects of the proposed plan will outweigh the cultural and "small town character" of the proposal and, third, Fitch's discussions with Yavapai College remain open-ended.

November 29th Update:  Passed: 7 for 0 against.

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