After 10 meetings dating back a year and a half in which the topic was up for discussion, the Sedona Planning and Zoning Commission has given its blessing by adopting the Western Gateway Community Focus Area.

Final approval will be made by the Sedona City Council at a date yet to be determined.

By a 5-1 vote, the commission voted in favor of the CFA plan during the Tuesday, Jan. 19, meeting. Commissioner Avrum Cohen was the dissenting vote, stating that he feels the high construction density proposed in the area will result in even more traffic. Vice Chairman Kathy Levin was excused from the meeting.

According to the city, the Western Gateway CFA Plan is the result of significant community, property owner, stakeholder, staff and commission input that establishes a guide for future development that provides incentives for property owners  and opportunities to address community needs and benefits.

CFAs are specific area plans that supplement the Sedona Community Plan. It serves as a long-range guide for future development of an area and takes into consideration citywide needs, potential community benefits and issues specific to each area.

The Western Gateway CFA is a combination of the Cultural Park and Health Services CFAs identified in the Community Plan.  The Cultural Park CFA encompasses the area around Sedona Red Rock High School, Yavapai College and the former Cultural Park. The Health Services CFA includes the area around the Sedona Medical Center.

While the CFA was approved, Chairman Marty Losoff stressed that this does not mean that any formal plans for the proposed Cultural Park have also been approved.

“I don’t want to minimize traffic’s impact,” he said. “The whole area will be significantly impacted and will be dense with traffic. If a developer comes into this area, they still have to do a traffic analysis and traffic-impact study. If the impact to the area is what we think, that may have an effect on any decision as to how we move forward. So, it’s not automatic.”

Key changes made to the CFA development guidelines from the last meeting earlier this month include:

• Removed ratios between residential and lodging uses and no longer define a balance between the mix of uses.
• Revised the language to provide guidelines rather than prescriptive criteria
• A limit of 300 additional lodging units is provided in the Cultural Park Character Area and no additional lodging is recommended in the South 89A Character Area.
• Removed references to a proportionate mix of uses in project phases and modified language in the introductory statements that provides consideration of alternative development approaches.
• Removed language regarding specific buffering between the Cultural Park area and existing timeshare development.
• In the Cultural Park Character Area, the recommendation for open space preservation in the southwest corner of the area  has been modified to allow for potential development making a significant “gateway” statement.

Senior Planner Mike Raber said plans for the Cultural Park will need to be presented to the city as one project but that it can be built in phases. Last summer, the owners of the property presented the city a rough concept of what they see for the area. The tentative plan calls for a wellness center, hotel, conference center, shopping, restaurants and residential living.