The wait continues as to whether or not a proposed hotel in the Village of Oak Creek is granted a zone change.
Late last week it was announced that a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 21, before the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors had been postponed.
“Yavapai County Development Services, in consultation with the applicant, has found the need to postpone this hearing until a future date,” a press release stated. “The hearing has been moved to a regular Board of Supervisors meeting in Cottonwood on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 9 a.m.” Up for discussion and vote is a zone change request of a parcel at the intersection of Jack’s Canyon Road and State Route 179. This is the site of a proposed 154-room Hilton Garden Inn on 4.74 acres of vacant land.
On June 20, at least 125 people — many wearing red in solidarity — came out to oppose the project before the Yavapai County Planning and Zoning Commission. By a 10-0 vote, the commission recommended approval of the zone change requested by Chandrika and Jack Patel, who have owned the land since 1992.
Patel attorney Jennifer Boblick said the delay for the hearing came at the request of the county.
“Due to scheduling conflicts the delay was longer than either side originally intended,” she said.
Yavapai County Supervisor Randy Garrison said even though he’s already heard his share of rumors as to why the hearing was delayed, the answer is quite simple. The county is required to post a notice in a newspaper in both the Verde Valley and in the Prescott area prior to a zone change hearing. The notice of the hearing was posted on this side of the Mingus Mountains but not on the other. By the time the error was noticed, it would have been too late to post in one of the Prescott newspapers because of the amount of time required [15 days] for a posting prior to a county meeting.
The November date was the next available one that worked for both the county and Patels, he said.
“It was an honest mistake but it’s been an unfortunate waste of staff time and has gotten a lot of people worked up,” Garrison said.
As part of the recommendation to approve, the county planning and zoning commission added several stipulations. Some of these included that if a hotel is built, the maximum height shall be 34 feet measured from the natural grade including the parapets. The maximum height for the elevator, stairwell and shade structures will be 44 feet.
If something other than a hotel is built on the property, the maximum height will be 30 feet. And, a building permit application must be submitted within five years of approval of the supervisors or the requested zoning of C2-1 [commercial, general sales and services] will revert back to the current zoning of RCU-2A [residential, rural, two-acre minimum lots].
Those not in favor of the project have said their opposition is due to a variety of reasons. Some of those included the proposed hotel being too big, traffic, too many hotels already, evacuation concerns at the intersection of Jack’s Canyon Road and State Route 179, impact on the quality of life, decreased property values, increased emergency service response time, lack of housing for employees and impacted viewshed.
It was stated at the June meeting that the county received more than 1,000 letters, emails and signatures in opposition to the project — most of which came from the VOC. They received seven letters of support. During the planning and zoning meeting, more than 75 written comments in opposition from those in attendance were added to the record. A brief synopsis of their concerns were read to the commissioners by Development Services Director David Williams.
The Big Park Regional Coordinating Council voted overwhelmingly against the zone change request after its planning and zoning committee voted 6-3 in favor of it the week prior.
