The vision for prime real estate owned by the city is becoming clearer.
The city purchased the Sinagua property, adjacent to City Hall, five years ago but never determined its use.
According to City Manager Karen Osburn, there is now a plan in place, especially since the city is now in talks with the Sedona-Oak Creek School District to lease its administration building on Brewer Road.
“Part of the decision to pursue the lease of the Brewer property for the [municipal] court, in addition to avoiding the large capital expenditure, is that we think the Sinagua property is better suited for future workforce housing,” she said last week.
“Its proximity to various office, commercial and lodging uses makes housing on that site a complementary use. If the land gets developed for a court we lose the opportunity to develop it as housing in the future. There are few vacant properties that would lend themselves as well to a workforce housing use.”
Osburn also said the Sinagua property is complicated. The city would tear down the existing building and look for a public-private partnership in terms of developing workforce housing. However, the city needs to pursue some changes to 50-year-old covenants, conditions and restrictions on that property to allow multi-family housing on the 1.54 acres.
“So, it isn’t anything we can pursue right away,” she said. “Because of that there is nothing in the works currently other than working to amend the restrictions if we can get the support of the other properties in the association to allow us to pursue housing on that site.”
For the most part, the building has been vacant since its purchase. City Engineer Andy Dickey said the city has used it for storage and an occasional meeting area. In addition, the city’s facility maintenance and custodial services staff had their offices there.
“We have also used it for temporary office space when offices were flooded out by a water main break,” he said. “In addition, this fiscal year we plan to use it for temporary office space while the police department remodel project is underway.”
From The Beginning
The Sedona City Council voted unanimously on Dec. 28, 2015, to purchase the property for $850,000. The purchase went through a month later. The properties were owned by the Sedona Verde Valley Association of Realtors. The property at 50 Sinagua Drive is a vacant lot adjacent to City Hall. The property at 55 Sinagua Drive was the location of the SVVAR offices.
The purchase was in negotiations for months, with SVVAR originally asking $1 million. According to the agreement, the city allowed SVVAR to lease the building for free up to six months.
“This property has significant long-term value to the city,” former Sedona City Manager Justin Clifton said shortly after the purchase.
“The city government has changed significantly since incorporation. Odds are very good that more change can be expected over the next 30 years and beyond.”
“While it is impossible to know what kind of government Sedona citizens will want in the future, there is a reasonable possibility that demand for government services could increase. The property is adjacent to the current city hall complex and represents the only opportunity to expand facilities while maintaining the convenience of housing many services at one location.”
