Yavapai News

Last month, the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to sanction a zone map change for a proposed 154-room hotel slated to be a Hilton Garden Inn.

In June, the zoning commission consented to recommend a zone change to the board of supervisors, the Sedona Red Rock News reported.

District 2 Supervisor Tom Thurman cautioned that the hotel hasn’t been given the green light yet, saying the building permit process still needs to be completed as well as approval from the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), which will allow for public input, the Sedona Red Rock News indicated.  

“The traffic study has to work with ADOT, as do things with our public works department and the fire department,” Thurman told the Sedona Red Rock News. “They have a lot of hurdles – including flood control district – to get over and any one of them could kill it.”

The zoning commission implemented a number of stipulations as part of the approval recommendation.  

According to the Sedona Red Rock News, the hotel’s maximum height cannot exceed 34 feet measured from the natural grade and stairwells, shade structures and elevators are required to be less than 44 feet. Any building other than a hotel is restricted to a height of 30 feet or less.

“Moreover, a building permit application must be submitted within five years of approval of the supervisors or the requested zoning of C2-1 [commercial, general sales and services] will revert back to the current zoning of RCU-2A [residential, rural, two-acre minimum lots],” the Sedona Red Rock News reported.

There was a measure of enmity to the proposed project. Yavapai County received more than 1,500 letters, emails and signatures opposing the hotel undertaking, the Sedona Red Rock News said.