The owners of the proposed Spring Creek Ranch master planned community have been busy in recent months making the rounds to speak to various community groups before heading back before Yavapai County officials. 

Lisa Borowsky and her father, Eric, were the guest speakers during a standing-room-only event on Wednesday, Feb. 19, hosted by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Yavapai College in West Sedona. 

They discussed their proposed 282-acre project off State Route 89A between Sedona and Cottonwood. The land, which Eric Borowsky bought in 2004, is currently zoned for 98 two-acre lots. 

On Dec. 19 of last year, the Yavapai County Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-4 to recommend denial to the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors of a zone change request. On that day, more than 125 people turned out, the majority of whom expressed their concerns about the development.

The Borowskys were scheduled to go before the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors in January but requested a continuance. District 1 Supervisor Rowle P. Simmons instead made a motion during a meeting to remand the application back to the Planning and Zoning Commission. The board’s vote was unanimous. 

Now, the Borowskys are scheduled to be on the Thursday, March 19, Planning and Zoning Commission agenda with a new plan in hand.

Lisa Borowsky said they have invested considerable time reviewing the input and direction they received from the commissioners, as well as the comments from the public at the December hearing.

The amended zone map change proposal has been reduced to a total of 1,500 single-family home and/or RV lots, a 1,000 lot reduction from the original request, which is a 40% decrease in overall density of single-family lots.

The 1,500 lots will include homesites and a maximum of 200 RV spots, down from the original 600. They are still proposing to have 400 apartment units and a 200-unit assisted care living facility. They still plan to have a recreational facility, a small store and one to two restaurants as well as 58 acres of open park with a 2.5-mile pathway along the creek. If approved, the project would be developed in phases based on supply and demand not all at once.

“I urge all of you to keep an open mind,” Lisa Borowsky said. “At the end of the day we’re going to be asking you for your support. It’s been a rough road. We are not discouraged because we know we’re here to create an amazing community at Spring Creek Ranch to join your overall Verde Valley community.”

The manufactured homes would begin at $100,000 but the land they sit on would be leased beginning at $650 a month. The apartments, which would sit on 18 acres, will be of market value around $1,000 to $1,200 a month. They feel that between the manufactured homes and apartments, it addresses a growing problem in the area — lack of workforce housing.

Neither would be age restrictive nor available as short-term rentals.

“We learned an interesting statistic from Sedona’s city manager [Justin Clifton], that 80 percent or more of the employees in Sedona commute from outside of Sedona,” she said. “Many of those are currently passing by Spring Creek Ranch. So, we believe a large percentage of those employees could be residents of our community in the future.”

Because of time constraints with the use of the classroom that hosts OLLI, there were only a few questions from the audience. One dealt with the fact that across from Spring Creek Ranch is state-owned trust land and whether or not that could be sold and developed in the near future.

“They [the state] are obligated to get the best price per acre for the benefit of schools in Arizona,” Lisa Borowsky said. “They have to sell for the highest and best price, which is generally not in tertiary areas. So, it will be somewhere in Scottsdale where they’re getting $1 million an acre or $500,000 an acre. We don’t believe that will happen in our lifetime. This is not a top-dollar area.”