SEDONA — Mark tenBroeck posed for a photo in front of a construction site on Forest Road. The spot he chose reflects his career as a civil engineer. The city is building a 270-car parking garage there, a big, expensive project, he said.
TenBroeck said continued development will raise the cost of living and drive residents out of town, which is one reason he and other Sedona residents are challenging approval of a new resort development just minutes from Uptown.
TenBroek is a member of the Sedona Residents Coalition, one of two groups protesting the city's approval of Oak Creek Heritage Lodge, a resort proposed for development on land along Oak Creek.
The project was approved in April of this year. Opponents say the development will degrade the area, increase traffic and violate the city's development guidelines.
Oak Creek Heritage Lodge will be built on 11.5 acres just south of Uptown Sedona. The space is currently open except for a few homes and historic buildings. The project's developer, RD Olson Development, plans to purchase the homes and incorporate the historic buildings into the resort.
The project will include 70 rooms with amenities such as a pool, restaurant, spa, meeting space and employee housing. Similar to the nearby L'Auberge de Sedona resort, the resort will be comprised of a collection of several accommodation buildings with separate structures for amenities.
R.D. Olson did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Republic.
TenBroeck said the Sedona Residents Association is realistic and understands development rights, but that R.D. Olson is “overdoing it” with the scale of the building compared to what is outlined in the city's development guidelines.
Critics say hotel violates city guidelines
The site is located in the Schnebly Community Focus Area, a nearly 100-acre privately owned area with a set of development goals and guidelines. The Schnebly Neighborhood calls for development to maintain rural character, support nonresidential uses and protect the riverine environment along Oak Creek.
The Oak Creek site also falls within the Oak Creek Heritage District, a new zoning designation intended to give landowners more ownership of their land. Development Options The Schnebly Community Focus Area, which is “better suited to the area's unique character,” allows lodging options such as small boutique hotels, bed and breakfasts, cottages, bungalows and cabins.
Opponents argue that Oak Creek Heritage Lodge does not meet those specifications.
“What they're doing is building a bunch of big, two-story buildings with glass fronts,” TenBroek says, “and it's really going to change the feel of the city.”
He said he is in favor of development with cabins and cottages, as outlined in the Schnebly Community Focus Area.
Carrie Meyer, the city's city planning administrator, said the development fits Sedona's character and complies with all provisions of the city's land development code.
Impact of development on riverside communities
RD Olson outlined the sustainable works the company plans to implement, including the use of solar panels and electric shuttle buses to ease traffic congestion. The development will preserve most of the site's large native trees and aims to achieve LEED certification, a benchmark used to rate buildings based on their energy efficiency and environmental benefits.
But residents are concerned about the impact the development will have on the local ecosystem.
This area is a riparian zone, an ecosystem that lies along a body of water. Riparian zones like this are rare.
“In the Sonoran Desert, trees are only able to survive primarily in riverine ecosystems,” says Heather Bateman, a wildlife ecologist and professor of ecology at Arizona State University. These ecosystems support high species diversity and complex habitats, she says.
Large sycamore trees line the creek and the grounds that will become Oak Creek Heritage Lodge. Approximately 1,000 trees They come in all different species and sizes. According to the Sedona Residents United Appeal, the area is home to deer, javelinas, coyotes and bobcats that need access to Oak Creek. New development could prevent these animals from accessing the river.
“This is a year-round source of water, even when it's dry,” TenBroek said.
Developer Estimation The completed resort will consume 21,600 gallons of water per day. According to a second lawsuit filed by Bear Wallow Lane residents, RD Olson has not disclosed how much surface water the development will draw from the creek. However, Official documents The developer has filed an application for surface water rights with the Arizona Department of Water Resources, listing its annual water usage from Oak Creek at 28.2 acre-feet, or just under 9.2 million gallons.
“Generally, anything that reduces the flow of a river can have an impact on the vegetation that grows along the river,” Bateman said. “If you lose these big structural trees, you lose the whole wildlife population.”
Opponents also object to the resort's plans to build a deck over the floodway, arguing that such a structure could block light from reaching riverside habitat.
Bear Wallow's lawsuit alleges that the developer's plans to build a public walking trail along the creek would lead to overuse of the area. Animals may shift their activity times to avoid contact with humans, which can lead to complications, including making species more vulnerable to predators, Bateman said.
But access to nature is important and the issue is a sensitive one, she said.
“We know that exposure to nature increases human well-being,” she says, “people's anxiety levels go down, their depression levels go down, and when people have experiences in nature, that can lead to positive outcomes, like protecting certain species or protecting areas along rivers.”
One of the reasons for encouraging nonresidential development within the Oak Creek Heritage District was to avoid subdividing land for single-family development, said Meyer, the planner.
Bateman said less habitat fragmentation is better for the species, but it's unclear whether hotels and housing developments will reduce habitat fragmentation.
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Floodplains, traffic concerns
The Sedona Residents Coalition also objected to the resort being built along a creek. The development would be built right up to the edge of the creek's floodway, an area that would be highly susceptible to inundation if flooding were to occur. The resort would be built in a 100-year floodplain, an area with a 1% chance of flooding recurring in any given year.
TenBroek said the first step will be to move the buildings out of the 100-year floodplain, where most of the lodging will be built.
Both lawsuits raised concerns about how much traffic the development would generate.
Traffic from the hotel may actually be less than that from the residential development, Meyer said: While hotel guests may leave in the morning and return at night, residents tend to come and go during the day, and the site is within walking or biking distance of Uptown attractions, she said.
The Sedona Residents Association argues that this only applies to “cabin and cottage” type developments outlined in the Schnebly Community Focus Area, which the group believes is not being followed at Oak Creek Heritage Lodge.
“We are very concerned about this proposed development, which would include a 70-room hotel, wedding venue and a 7,000-square-foot restaurant, because it would just create a lot of congestion,” TenBroek said, adding that there could be road safety concerns if emergency vehicles are prevented from passing through.
These kinds of complaints are new, said Meyer, the planner, because Sedona doesn't have much vacant land within the city limits, and new developments are often proposed close to residents.
TenBroek, who has lived in Sedona part of the year for about 10 years, said the continued development is driving people out of Sedona.
On the other side of the creek, construction crews are working on building a 270-car parking lot and a new extension of the road.
“That's what Sedona seems to be like these days,” he said.
The Sedona City Council is scheduled to hear the appeal on Tuesday and make a final decision on the project.
