The developers of a proposed apartment complex in Uptown have withdrawn their application for a Major Community Plan Amendment with the city of Sedona after a large amount of pushback from nearby residents.
However, the property is still going to be developed.
On Wednesday, Aug. 4, the Flagstaff-based Miramonte Homes announced that it will withdraw its application for a Major Plan Amendment to build 84 apartments. The developers were set to appear before the Sedona City Council on Wednesday, Aug 11.
Charity Lee, land acquisition and development manager for Miramonte Homes, said in an email to the Sedona Red Rock News that the company knows Sedona is in a housing crisis. For that reason, it sought to bring much-needed apartment housing to Jordan Road in the Uptown business and tourist district.
“These apartments would have provided homes for residents living and working in Sedona,” she said. “Twelve percent of the apartments would have been reserved for families earning under $15 per hour.
“Unfortunately, Miramonte has made the difficult decision to withdraw its application to build apartments. Robust opposition to Miramonte’s proposal was mounted by residents in the Jordan Road area, who organized Facebook pages and YouTube videos to stir up opposition.”
She went on to write, “Miramonte laments that opponents’ information frequently included misstatements of fact. For example, vastly overstating the income needed to afford an apartment. But, it acknowledges that opposition served the purpose of undermining support for workforce housing. In both private and public statements, members of the city’s council and zoning commission have expressed reservations about the pending application to the point that it seems clear Miramonte’s project will not be approved in an economically viable form.”
The property is already zoned for medium-density and low-density residential uses.
“These are the uses called for in the city’s current zoning code, and time and again the neighbors indicated to Miramonte their preference to have the property developed under the current zoning designations,” Lee said.
“Miramonte will proceed now to do just that,” she concluded.
The property is broken into two parcels. According to Cari Meyer, the city’s planning manager, the western lot is zoned RM-2, which allows for 12 units per acre. At 2.06 acres, that would equate to 24.72 units. However, when calculating density for multi-family projects, she said units under 1,000 square feet don’t count as a full unit and units deed-restricted for affordability don’t count at all. So, the total number of units may be higher than 24 depending on the size of each unit and any deed restrictions.
The eastern lot is zoned RS-18, which allows for two units per acre. At 4.53 acres, that would equate to nine lots, provided minimum lot sizes/dimensions could be met. A previous single-family subdivision for this property was for eight lots.
Meyer also said that an RS-18 zone has a maximum building coverage of 35%. On an 18,000-square-foot lot, that would be up to 6,300 of building footprint. So if they did a second story, that square footage could conceivably be doubled to a 12,600-square-foot building. All enclosed spaces such as garages and workshops would count toward the building coverage.
