The last thing Brenda Clouston expected to see welcoming her, her staff and potential customers was a sign stating that her new restaurant had been closed by Yavapai County and deemed “Unsafe To Occupy.”

That’s exactly what she found posted to the front door of Colt Grill’s newest location in the Village of Oak Creek.

The notice was signed on Thursday, May 20, at 10:04 a.m. by Yavapai County Development Services Director David Williams.

“They said that the building was unfit and unsafe to occupy,” she said in an interview at Colt Grill’s Cottonwood location. “I asked ‘why?’ They said because I’m not in compli­ance. I said that I had done everything I could and I didn’t understand. They didn’t tell me why but I know its due to the parking problems.

“There were so many emotions. The biggest one was, I was just incredu­lous. This process has gone on so long and we’ve tried so hard to comply with every single regulation, every permit, every code. It’s just gone on and on. It feels like the goalpost just keeps moving. I was shocked when they came. I really thought they’d be willing to work with me regarding the discrepancy they said I had.”

Coulston said Colt Grill was required to have 49 parking spaces and were told they had just 44. She asked how that could be. A county official measured and told her they will have to find an additional five spaces. She said she found a nearby property that said she could use 15 of their spaces for her employees to park. The other business, which she did not name, signed an agreement and got it signed off by its insurance company. That was sent to the county but Coulston said she did not receive a confirmation.

When the project was first being discussed, there was pushback from some residents regarding the amount of parking and the potential impact on traffic near that roundabout on State Route 179. This surprised her being that Blue Moon Café had been at that same location for years and Colt Grill is no larger in terms of square footage.

“We’re trying to bring a good product to the Village that’s affordable, that’s beautiful and improves that plaza because its been vacant for quite some time,” she said in reference to the former Blue Moon Café, which has been closed for several years.

In the past four years Clouston opened the location in Cottonwood followed by one in Prescott Valley, and they are in the process of opening a fourth location along Whiskey Row in Prescott.

Clouston acknowledges that they had yet to receive the Certificate of Occupancy from the county when they had their soft opening.

Simply put, a Certificate of Occupancy is the final document that a business receives prior to opening stating that it is safe to do so. She was expecting to receive it after sending the county the parking agreement with the nearby business. She said she wasn’t trying to skirt the process but instead felt it was just a formality at that point after doing everything else that was necessary.

“I never thought the result would be this harsh,” she said. “In my mind, I’ve done every single thing possible I could do to get that restau­rant open and to be compliant.”

On those lines she added, “It’s frustrating when I see on social media people painting me as a defiant person and that’s not the case at all. My entire team has been working diligently to do everything that was required. So, that’s not a fair characterization.”

When contacted by the Sedona Red Rock News on the day of the closure, Williams wrote in an email May 20, “Unfortunately, this Department is unable to comment on active investigations. This is a Development Services and Health Department matter at this time.”

In an email on Wednesday, May 26, seeking any update on the matter, Williams wrote, “There will be no comment or update coming from our office.”

In a statement from Yavapai County District 3 Supervisor Donna Michaels, she wrote that she wanted to clear up some “important misconceptions” after social media posts alleged she was responsible for the closure.

“First, this decision was not made by the Board of Supervisors,” she said. “We did not play a role in the decision-making leading up to the issuance of the ‘unsafe to occupy order.’ Nor can any supervisor simply overrule Development Services, which consulted with the County Attorney’s Office, health department and Sedona Fire [District] before making its decision.”

Michaels confirmed that at the core of this conflict, there is a problem concerning the number of parking spaces on the prop­erty. She said Colt Grill agreed to provide 49 spaces, but “ultimately provided only 38 — which flies in the face of the plans submitted to the county and ownership’s assur­ances that the plans were accurate and they would abide by them.”

“While that shortage of spaces creates a public safety hazard and inconveniences neighboring busi­nesses, there is an equally impor­tant issue at stake here. What is it?” Michaels wrote. “The fact that Colt Grill opened to the public without a valid Certificate of Occupancy. While we may not agree with the law or things like permitting processes, I believe none of us is above the law. We can’t simply disobey laws that inconvenience us or that we don’t like.”

As of Wednesday, May 26, Clouston said she had not been given any additional information or direction from the county. So for now, they’re in a bit of a holding pattern.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen — I really don’t,” she said. “I want to think the county is working on a solution for me so I can get my people to work. I want to believe that. It’s been since August 2019 that I started this process. I’m a little bit jaded but I’m still an optimist.”

And when asked if she’s still confident the restaurant will open its doors in the Village of Oak Creek, without hesitation she said, “Yes. Absolutely.”