While the process to produce a new master plan for the Sedona Cultural Park appears to be running three months behind schedule, residents can look forward to a new online survey on options for the park coming out this weekend and another public meeting on the subject in February.
“We’re going to use a second survey to help whittle down some of the understanding of what the public is wanting,” Community Development Director Steve Mertes told the Sedona City Council during their priority retreat on Dec. 12. “Looking to have that out either Friday the 20th of December or Monday the 23rd. And then looking at our second workshop around Feb. 6.”
As of October, the draft schedule for the master planning process prepared by city consultant Dig Studio planned that the second online survey would run from the second weekend of December through the first weekend of January, with the second in-person public meeting on development options planned for the second weekend of December.
The schedule also projected that the first Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to consider the new master plan would be held during the second week of January and the first City Council hearing during the middle of May; based on the delay to the second public meeting, these sessions will likely be delayed until April and August, respectively.
“To what extent are we going to educate about these options?” Councilman Brian Fultz asked. “Getting ideas of what people like is great, but this stuff’s got to be paid for.
“Right now we’re completely separated from what I want and what it costs, so can you talk about how that survey is going to bring some intelligence to the community about hey, this stuff does cost money and how do you feel about it now? … It’s great for somebody to say ‘I want a full-blown rec center with an indoor pool’ … it’s going to cost X millions of dollars a year to operate it.”
“Those are the exact talks that we’re having internally … in creating the questions on this next survey,” Mertes said.
With regard to Fultz’s example, Mertes also estimated the cost of a recreation center with full facilities would be between $25 million and $30 million.
