A public hearing has not yet been scheduled for a proposed Circle K store on a vacant 1.781-acre parcel at the northeast corner of 2820 W. State Route 89A and Southwest Drive, but work on the development remains ongoing.
The store would cover 6,250 square feet, making it larger than most comparable Circle K stores in Arizona, as a result of the city of Sedona’s architectural guidelines, with a 6,154-square-foot parking lot and a single tunnel car wash.
The location would be open 24 hours a day and support eight to 10 Employees.
Circle K also plans to “relocate the nearest store,” which is currently at 2570 SR 89A, according to Suzy Comeau, director of Arizona growth.
City staff have expressed concerns over excessive pavement at the site, which Comeau said they are addressing by adding more landscaping and reducing the amount of paved area.
“With annual temperatures increasing, as well as the risk of extensive drought, it would be beneficial to increase the use of native vegetation that is adaptive and drought-tolerant to reduce the reliance on water resources,” Circle K’s letter of intent for the project states.
A proposed maple tree at the site was removed from previous plans in pursuit of that goal, and the plan has been updated to include three shrubs and one tree per 400 square feet, with landscape islands added in the parking lot on either side of the fuel canopy.
The proposed car wash will use recycled water, and the station will be required by Sedona’s building code to install electric vehicle charging stations. The current site plan shows 28 parking spaces, including future electric vehicle parking spaces in the easternmost bank of parking stalls.
According to the traffic analysis for the station by Southwest Traffic Engineering, “the proposed project is predicted to generate an additional 3,086 vehicle trips per day on weekdays to the adjacent street system from the new project site. Fifty percent of these newtrips [1,543 vehicle trips] will be into the project and 50% will be out of the project.”
Circle K is also awaiting comment from the Arizona Department of Transportation about a proposed curb cut for the project along SR 89A and whether the new building will require a deceleration lane.
A sidewalk is planned to be built along Southwest Drive and connected to a path along 89A, in combination with a proposed walking path on the north side of the Circle K station.
“With these new stores, we’re focusing on our food offerings,” Comeau said. “Where we have fresh sandwiches, salads, grab-and-go types of healthier food items, as well as your typical hot dogs and different things that we’ve traditionally offered, but we have a broader variety of food offerings.”
