The show must go on — the art show, that is.
That was the feeling of the majority of those on the Yavapai County Planning and Zoning Commission regarding a request from the operators of the Sedona Vista Village Art Shows in the Village of Oak Creek.
The commission voted 8-1 on Thursday, Feb. 18, in favor of recommending approval of a five-year use permit renewal to the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors.
District 3 Commissioner Curtis Linder was the lone dissenting vote, while District 5 Commissioner Sandra Marlin-Griffis was excused. The supervisors are scheduled to consider the matter on Wednesday, March 17.
“We are very happy the Yavapai Planning and Zoning Commission voted 8-1 to approve our permit renewal,” art show owner Marlo Johnson said after the meeting. “We hope the Board of Supervisors also recognizes the benefits our shows provide to local artists, businesses and the community as a whole.
“I am aware there are passionate voices in the community both in favor of the shows but also concerned about things like traffic and parking. We look forward to hearing the supervisors’ viewpoints as well as the public’s at the meeting on March 17.”
Johnson’s permit request is seeking to allow up to 15 arts and craft shows per year for up to 50 vendors at the Sedona Vista Village. Johnson also runs the art show at Bell Rock Plaza, but that is under a separate use permit with the county.
During her comments, Johnson said they average about 300 people per day at the art shows and that it provides income for many local artists. She said there have been no incidents in the time she’s operated the show and when there are concerns, she has addressed them immediately.
“I believe the residents of the Village like the art shows,” she said to the commissioners, adding that while Sedona Vista Village offers 15 shows a year, Bell Rock Plaza averages just eight shows per year.
In October of last year the Big Park Regional Coordinating Council, a nongovernmental community interest group, voted 14-2 against recommending approval of the permit renewal after having been in favor of it in the past.
The council’s earlier support changed after the opening of the Element Hotel, which sits adjacent to the art show.
BPRCC President Camille Cox was one of 10 who spoke in opposition of the permit renewal. After the meeting she declined to comment on the commission’s vote, stating that she didn’t feel comfortable speaking for the entire council. She did, however, provide some of the ongoing concerns of many of those on the council. Some of these include:
■ The tent show site, following the sale and development of the land area now occupied by the Element Hotel, contains 50% less total land area, and 60% less parking than when the last use permit was issued.
■ This location is at the busiest intersection/roundabout in the Village. Tent show customer access is primarily via a single entrance on north-bound State Route 179, which also serves patrons, employees and deliveries for the Element Hotel and Sedona Vista Village businesses. The only other entrance to the site is via Cortez Drive.
■ As of this date, the host property is not fully leased, making the parking situation even further out of compliance with zoning ordinances.
■ The resulting tightly-confined parking lot, with highly restricted flow from vendors and shoppers, creates a hazardous scenario for pedestrians, particularly vulnerable elderly and handicapped. The revised site plan has a number of areas that are not compliant with fire marshal requests or general safety standards
Originally, the application was being processed as a use permit renewal with no modifications because the request and stipulations were not changing or being modified. This could be handled at the staff level.
“However, after receiving feedback from the community, including BPRCC, Development Services has determined this application cannot be processed as a Use Permit Renewal with No Modification,” Yavapai County Senior Planner Leah Brock told the Sedona Red Rock News in November. “It instead will need to be processed as a use permit renewal with modifications due to the change in site plan, with the addition of the Element Hotel.”
A use permit renewal with modifications requires a full public hearing including community outreach and a recommendation from the commission prior to the supervisors meeting.
In a November interview, Johnson addressed the concerns the BPRCC had in terms of the new configuration of the plaza,
“Notably, shows have taken place in this parking lot even back when the retail complex was completely full of stores, and there has not been a single incident involving a pedestrian, so I do not understand why the council has made this in particular a major issue,” Johnson said. “As far as the standard practice for tent shows being a few weekends a year, my schedule of events is in complete compliance — as are all dates and times — with the schedule the county allows through the permit process, which residents of the VOC weighed in on during the last permit hearing.”
Johnson said last year she couldn’t understand all of BPRCC’s concerns since art shows have been taking place at that location for nearly 30 years, nine years with her as promoter. For the last two years, she said, the shows have had the same basic layout that exists now without any incidents and no complaints.
“I stay in close contact with the county and other authorities, and I am constantly checking to make sure there are no concerns,” she said last year. “There were no complaints for the last two years, no complaints until a couple weeks ago now that my use permit is up for renewal. I fear that there may be issues that some Big Park council members have with my shows that go beyond what they should be considering.”
