The city of Sedona has a lot on its plate these days between Sedona in Motion projects and those associated with transit. But there is one project that may assist with both.
The Sedona City Council is considering a Major Plan Amendment, requested by its own staff, which could eventually lead to the building of a parking garage on Forest Road.
The item was discussed by council during a nearly three-hour Aug. 11 work session and will be back before council during a public hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 15.
At that time council could take action on the proposal, which calls for a 272-space garage.
Council approved purchasing 460 Forest Road for $410,000 in June last year. The city purchased the adjacent property located at 430 Forest Road two months earlier. The proposed parking garage will straddle those two lots, which are a combined 1.24 acres.
The garage is estimated to cost $11.5 million, which includes construction and land acquisition.
Both parcels are currently designated Single-Family Low Density. The Major Plan Amendment would redesignate the property as Commercial on the Future Land Use Map and rezoning would change it from Single-Family Residential to Mixed Use Activity Center.
Council directed staff to create a design for a two-story, three-level parking structure to be built on those purchased lots. The bottom story would be below ground level, or subgrade, and above would be ground level with uncovered parking on the roof, or third level. In all, it would look like a one-story structure nearly 12 feet high.
A handful of residents spoke in opposition of the garage, at least at that location. The biggest concern was what would happen in the event Uptown needed to be evacuated and the impact 260 additional vehicles from the garage would have on that effort.
Sedona Police Chief Charles Husted was asked to address that question to help quell those concerns. He said there are plans in place among the police department, Sedona Fire District and Arizona Department of Public Safety in addition to Yavapai and Coconino county sheriffs’ offices, which oversee evacuation efforts. He said he’s confident that the additional vehicles in a garage would not have a great impact on an evacuation.
During the meeting, Councilman Jon Thompson said he had more than 75 questions for staff but had narrowed those down for the meeting. Despite that attempt, he was able to get through just a few while expressing his desire to put a pause on the project for a year or two. While others on the council said they wanted to hear his reasoning, no others openly supported a delay.
Following the meeting, Thompson was asked why he was seeking to put the project on hold.
“My reason for suggesting the pause was to allow the time to re-evaluate the location and need for the parking garage based on current conditions,” he said. “A lot has happened in the two-and-a-half years since council approved spending for the first phase — the architectural design. It’s always prudent to take a fresh look at a multi-phase project at each phase. And with nearly $10 million of the total $11.5 million still uncommitted, I felt there were more than enough new questions to justify re-confirming or re-considering this project.”
Thompson added, “I was not at all successful in using the time I had during the work session to ask most of those questions. So I gave the city clerk copies of my annotations on the agenda bill and the 2019 parking study to include as part of the official record of the meeting. At least this makes it possible for the rest of council and the public to see my concerns by requesting copies of these documents ahead of the pubic hearings and votes on this proposal and the final Uptown CFA Plan scheduled at our first council meetings in September.”
