The saga of the proposed Hilton Garden Inn in the Village of Oak Creek appears headed to its final stage. Owners Jack and Chandrika Patel initially brought their proposed hotel to the Big Park Regional Coordinating Council on Feb. 14. Dozens of residents spoke and the council unanimously recommended denial.

The Patels withdrew consideration of that design of the hotel, revamped it and returned with a new proposal in early June. At that public meeting, the Patels appeared to satisfy the concerns of the Big Park Regional Coordinating Council’s Planning & Zoning Committee, which voted 6-3 in favor of permitting the zone change. The proposal next went to the Big Park Regional Coordinating Council as a whole.

Typically, most legislative bodies in Arizona take the lead from their planning and zoning committees — after all, that’s why public bodies establish such committees in the first place — but the BPRCC rejected its own committee’s decision and voted 25-3 against rezoning June 13. The actual official specifics of what the committee and council approved and why members voted as they did is unknown because there is no official documen­tation about the stipulations.

Both the BPRCC and its Planning & Zoning Committee decline to post their meeting results and minutes within three working days, as mandated by Arizona Revised Statute §38-431.01(D). 

Responding to an email she sent to us Friday, June 21, we asked the BPRCC board secretary why the meeting minutes are not posted within three working days, but as of Tuesday, June 25, she has not replied.

The most recent minutes on the BPRCC website are dated April 5, so the June meeting minutes likely won’t be posted until August, which could be after the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors makes its deci­sion on Wednesday, Aug. 21, meaning neither oppo­nents nor supporters can plan their cases effectively. 

All that notwithstanding, both the BPRCC and its P&Z committee are advisory in nature and have no real authority to permit or prohibit any project in the Village of Oak Creek. They can voice their support or objection to projects, which county officials take under advisement, but the county’s Board of Supervisors and Planning & Zoning Committee hold the actual power to allow or deny a project in the VOC. 

At the county’s Planning & Zoning Committee meeting on June 20, opponents and supporters made their respective cases. In addition to the scheduled and agendized presentations, residents were allowed time to present their issues and additional time was allocated in the open forum for comments not already addressed. The committee members also read into the official record the objections received from about 1,000 letters and emails opposed to the project. Many of the concerns are beyond the scope of what the Planning & Zoning Commission is permitted to examine when looking at a zone change, but the public had their voices heard and officially recorded.

The commission then voted 10-0 in favor of rezoning the parcel. Public concerns beyond the P&Z commission’s purview can be addressed at the Board of Supervisors meeting, but it would be hard to make the case that the five supervisors would overrule a 10-0 unanimous P&Z vote. 

While District 3 Supervisor Randy Garrison, who represents the VOC, may be persuaded by his constit­uents, the other four supervisors represent other districts in our 8,128-square-mile Yavapai County and are not beholden to Village of Oak Creek voters and must look at what benefits the county as a whole. Some residents have suggested challenging Garrison in the November 2020 election should he vote in favor. While we always encourage more candidates run for office, that election is a long way off and would likely not prevent the hotel from being built, should it be approved in two months. 

By the August meeting, the supervisors will have seen the recommendations from the BPRCC, its P&Z committee and the county P&Z commission. Opponents will need airtight reasons to reject the project to sway the supervisors representing Prescott and the west county, which seems unlikely given that two of the three previous bodies have heard hours of public opposition and still recommended approval, but VOC residents are welcome to attend and passion­ately make their case the fourth and final time. 

— Christopher Fox Graham 

Managing Editor