Sedona City Council still doesn’t know what it’ll do with an agreement it made to accept property from an owner who may not own the property in question.

By Trista Steers
Larson Newspapers

Sedona City Council still doesn’t know what it’ll do with an agreement it made to accept property from an owner who may not own the property in question.

On Tuesday, July 24, council voted down two proposals to resolve the issue by 4-3 votes each time. Councilmen Ramon Gomez and John Bradshaw, and Councilwoman Nancy Scagnelli voted for the proposals.

A 4-3 vote also approved initial acceptance of the Jordan Preserve property on May 8. At that time, Vice Mayor Jerry Frey voted with Gomez, Bradshaw and Scagnelli to accept the property.

Mayor Pud Colquitt, and Councilmen Rob Adams and Harvey Stearn have been against the deal from the start.

Frey said he voted with Colquitt, Adams and Stearn on Tuesday because he’s bothered by the way property owner Scott Cole conducted business.

“He didn’t let us know that there was any problem with the title,” Frey said, and when city staff asked for the title Cole didn’t give it to them.

The original development agreement said council accepted 7.8 acres of creekfront property in Uptown in exchange for approximately $845,000 in parks and recreation development impact fees from Cole Sedona Preserve.

Council later learned “Goodyear 93” filed a claim of adverse possession for 4,577 square feet of the property.

The two new proposals council voted on entailed council still agreeing to accept the property but with modifications.

The first agreement was from Cole, owner of the property. Cole’s agreement said he would deal with Goodyear 93, the party staking a claim against the land.

If a court ruled Goodyear 93 owned the

property, Cole said he would pay the city for the property. If the court ruled in Cole’s favor, the initial agreement would stand.

The second option said council would exclude the 4,577 square feet from the agreement and accept the remainder of the property.

Since council denied both proposals Tuesday, it will again discuss the issue Tuesday, Aug. 14, according to City Manager Eric Levitt.

Levitt said his office doesn’t have a recommendation at this time.

Frey said his vote Tuesday doesn’t

mean he’s necessarily against

accepting the land, but he’s not satisfied with the options presented to council

thus far.

“He [Cole] has to come up with a better option,” Frey said. “He didn’t make it easy for us, so there’s no reason we should make it easy for him.”

Trista Steers can be reached at  282-7795, Ext. 129, or tsteers@larsonnewspapers.com.