At its February 14 meeting, the Sedona City Council approved an agreement to resolve a pending eminent domain lawsuit with Jean McDonald, the former owner of 731 Forest Road.

After the city approved the route for the forest road connection in September 2021, city officials decided that the project would need to obtain a right-of-way or easement across 11 parcels with nine owners. The city was able to negotiate access to five of these parcels. Owners of his six remaining parcels rejected the city’s initial offer of compensation.

The city initiated an eminent domain lawsuit against McDonald’s property (parcel 401-38-003E) in Coconino County Superior Court on February 28, 2022. The grounds that the property was acquired for public purposes. At the time, the city deposited his $110,565 in court.

City officials and McDonald’s reached a settlement agreement on January 12, 2023, in which the city agreed to pay McDonald’s $256,000 in compensation and approximately $13,010 in interest on its earnings. McDonald’s had previously sold the property on April 2, 2022 and had reserved the right to receive the settlement proceeds as part of that transaction. The listing price of 731 Forest Road was $1.5 million.

The City may enter into up to four additional settlement agreements to resolve the remaining eminent domain lawsuits related to the Forest Road Connection Project. Initial proposals made by the city for access to each of these lots are as follows:

• Donated $223,299 to Rindo Mansion Association [the Hyatt Residence Club] For right-of-way and easements on parcels 401-17-019C and 401-17-019P
• $167,090 to 741 Forest Road LLC [the Bowers family] For site and parcel easements 401-38-012
• $241,128 to Stephanie Penman, right-of-way and easement on lot 401-38-015
• $481,914 to Farshid Paydar, right of way and easement for parcel 401-38-001J

Likewise, the owners of these parcels agreed to provide for immediate city ownership so that city officials could begin construction of the extension.

Here’s how much the city paid for access to the five parcels it was able to negotiate access to:

• $216,683 to Farshid Paydar, right of way and easement at 401-38-011B and 401-38-011D
• $839,500 to James and Tina Marie Ochoa for the purchase of parcel 401-38-006B
• $9,439 to Golden Rocks LLC for easement on parcel 401-38-011E
• $26,000 to Jason Street Holdings for right-of-way on parcel 401-38-017

City staff also planned to negotiate a temporary construction easement on parcel 401-16-101A, then owned by Elliott Greenberg and Gale Hart, but the terms with the property owners were unsatisfactory. We disagreed and later chose to adjust our plans. Expansion to eliminate the need for construction activity on the lot.

The city estimates the total cost of the forest road connection project to be $9.1 million.