The public spoke and the Yavapai County Planning and Zoning Commission heard them loud and clear.
The commission unanimously voted 9-0 to deny recommendation of the proposed Rojo Grande Sedona development during its Thursday, Jan. 17, meeting.
The zoning change request will now going before the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at the county facility in Cottonwood. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m.
The sale of the land by the current owner to the developer is contingent on receiving a zone change.
An estimated 300 people turned out for the meeting, most of whom wore red in opposition to the plan that calls for 600 mobiles homes and 50 RV sites just outside the Sedona city limits off State Route 89A. The development, adjacent to Sedona Pines and Sedona Shadows, proposes to rezone from its current zoning of residential single-family to Planned Area Development. As proposed, this would be a 55-and-older development. Under the current zoning 89 total homes could be built on the land.
The developer, Equity LifeStyle Properties, owns and manages nearly 200 manufactured home and RV parks across the nation including Sedona Shadows. Residents would own the manufactured home but would lease the land on which it sat for around $1,000 a month. ELS would offer five to eight model homes for prospective residents to choose from but people can bring in their own if they meet certain standards.
The proposed development is located on the site of the former El Rojo Grande Ranch, which is approximately 2½ miles west of Sedona’s jurisdictional boundary. The county requested input from the city on the project earlier this fall; Sedona City Council and staff were not in favor of it.
Following the commission’s vote, many in the audience were hugging one another, some shed a few tears while others reminded everyone to keep writing the county and to show up next month since the supervisors have the final say. Most stayed until the end of the seven hours worth of testimony and discussion.
“Because of the overwhelming opposition to this is why I will be voting with my colleagues,” Commissioner Michael Ellegood said. “I think we as a commission need to listen to the people.”
At the start of the meeting, Senior Planner Tammy DeWitt said that as of Jan. 7, the county had received 719 letters and emails in opposition to the project. More than 150 of those people either spoke during the meeting or signed a form stating their opposition, while many having their comments read into the record.
Many of those who spoke against the development were part of a very organized effort — which was praised by Commission Chairman Jim Stewart. They were broken into 13 groups, each representing a concern of those opposed. Each speaker identified themselves as well as a corresponding letter and number to information of graphics located in a binder presented to the commissioners.
“Someone spent a lot of time on this,” Stewart said, while holding up the binder.
The biggest concerns — which were echoed by most of those opposed — included traffic, no city services, character of the neighborhood, impact on the environment and viewshed, workforce housing, age restrictions, ingress/egress during emergencies, density, fire concerns, flooding, lot size and decrease in neighboring property values to name just a few.
“The applicant has done a great job in promoting this but I don’t see any support,” Commissioner Curtis Linder said. “When we have a rezoning request, that’s the challenge for any applicant — to get that support. I was born here and this is my district and I have never seen this much opposition.”
See the Wednesday, Jan. 13, edition of the Sedona Red Rock News for an updated version of this article.
