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Public Notice of Sedona Airport and Sky Ranch Rezoning Request

Sedona Airport mesa

Sedona AZ (August 31, 2012) – Notice is hereby given that the City of Sedona Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing in the City Hall Council Chambers located at 102 Roadrunner Drive, Sedona, Arizona, on Tuesday, September 18, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. to review, take public testimony, discuss and possibly take action regarding the following request for a Major Amendment to the Sedona Community Plan:

• Request for a Major Amendment to the Sedona Community Plan’s Future Land Use Map, re-designating approximately 4.6 acres of the airport property from Public/Semi-public to Commercial/Lodging to provide for the expansion of the Sky Ranch Lodge. The existing Sky Ranch Lodge occupies approximately 7.3 acres and is currently designated Commercial/Lodging on the Community Plan Future Land use Map.

The proposal includes 40 new lodging units, a 6,000 square foot conference center and up to four affordable housing units on site. The Sky Ranch Lodge is located along the west side of Airport Road and North of Air Terminal Drive on top of Airport Mesa. The proposed expansion is to the west of the existing lodge. This property is further described as a portion of Assessor’s Parcel Number 408-27-001.

City of Sedona Public Notice

Project: Sky Ranch Lodge Expansion

Applicant: Sedona Oak Creek Airport Authority/Sky Ranch Operations LLC

Case #: CPA 2012-01

The proposed amendment request and the Sedona Community Plan are available for public review and inspection at the Department of Community Development, 102 Roadrunner Drive, Sedona Arizona, 86336. Persons with questions or comments regarding the proposal may contact Michael Raber at the above address, E-Mail: mraber@SedonaAZ.gov or call (928) 204-7106.

At the public hearing, citizens and interested persons shall have an opportunity to be heard. The proposal may be modified, in part, at the public hearing.

________________

Michael Raber, Senior Planner

Department of Community Development

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6 Comments

  1. My letter to the City and County about the proposed expansion on airport mesa, this can only be done if they change the Sedona Community Master Plan.

    Dear Mr. Raber, Sedona City Council and Yavapai County Commissioners:

    The proposed development at the Sedona Airport is not in compliance with an aeronautical use or a benefit to the public.

    The airport is to be run like a utility. Developing a bigger hotel is not a public benefit, it is a commercial interest and non aviation related.

    Developing a conference center and swimming pool is also not a public benefit.

    Attached is an FAA compliance document written by David Cushing and an old news article about the airport illegally operating

    the hotel on airport property.

    The airport runs it’s traffic over our homes and businesses; there is a conference center, swimming pool and hotel at Poco Diablo.

    As a former guest and frequent dinner at Poco Diablo, I know firsthand how they have suffered for years under the impact of jets, airplanes and helicopters to the point that guests do not want to stay there.

    The hotel could not use it outdoor dining room and the noise ruined people’s golfing experience, so they didn’t want to play.

    In essence this airport development plan would be a boon to the airport’s coffers to the detriment of existing businesses and home owners.

    Poco Diablo was here before the airport, as they are built on land that was land granted and homesteaded, this was one of the first occupied pieces of land by white settlers in Sedona.

    My lot was also platted before the airport was here.

    The further development of the land on the mesa will bring in increased air traffic including jet traffic, which is harming the people who live here,

    through jet fuel dumping, noise and pollution. Jet fuel dumping is occurring on both ends of the airport mesa a few hundred feet above homes and businesses, this is highly illegal!

    The airport has also been out of compliance with the DNL level, as my area was at the maximum allowed back in 1997.

    The Airport decided to call my neighborhood mostly forest land in Chapter 6 to avoid being out of compliance.

    More people staying on the mesa will increase helicopter tours, as more people are staying in close proximity to the helicopter tour companies.

    More noise detrimentally affects our tourism base and drives people to leave Sedona in less time.

    Flagstaff has become a more desirable vacation destination than Sedona. People come to Sedona for the red rocks and a nature experience.

    The one user group, aviation is less than a fractional of a percent but they impact all of us disproportionately in an extremely negative manner.

    At the moment we have a small reprieve from the intense air traffic we have been bombarded with for years.

    Few mountain bikers come to Sedona anymore, despite having the best trail system in the world, their reason is, “it is too noisy.”

    My website has a copy of my blood test, showing how extremely high the levels of jet fuel are in my blood. My website is http://www.closetheairport.com

    where over 700 people have signed the petition. I hope you have read this petition? No one should be forced to endure jet fuel dumping over their home.

    This is a literal death sentence. My neighbor, Amanda Coughlin, has already died from liver cancer at age 21 from inhaling jet fuel since 2006.

    The Sedona Airport is redundant, if people want to come here they can land in Flagstaff or Cottonwood. You should change the Sedona Master plan to rid our town of the airport.
    Sedona has been added to the EPA’s lead task force because so many children and adults have lead poisoning from breathing leaded av gas coming from small piston aircraft. Sedona is a basin, with smaller basins, washes and canyons that hold the pollution in. I have gone for hikes and had my lungs burn from breathing so much pollution.

    Why should a few thousand aircraft be allowed to destroy people’s lives? Are the hamburgers they buy and sight seeing, worth the cost to our children who develop lifelong damage?

    The cost to remove lead is thousands of dollars and it cannot be removed from the brain. Who is going to pay for the testing and chelation therapy?
    My neighbors young boys aged 4 and 8 are already being chelated.

    I would like to reiterate something to all you, this problem is not going away. I am not going away and neither are the other victims.

    If you have authority over the airport’s proposed expansion, you have authority over the jet fuel dumping as it endangers the residents in your town.

    Kristin Monday, jet fuel dumping victim, suffering under a long list of health damages from inhaling jet fuel.

    cc: Howard Shanker, Esq.

    Doug Rhoads, Esq.

    Dave Cushing

    Close Sedona Airport | Save Sedona Arizona from Plane Crashes & Noise Pollution http://www.closetheairport.com

    Sedona, Arizona, this is the site of illegal and lethal, low altitude jet fuel dumping by private a…

  2. Jean Jenks says:

    I SENT THE E-MAIL BELOW TO MIKE RABER AND AWAIT AN ANSWER.

    Hello Mike,

    I’d very greatly appreciate learning the following about the proposed Sky Ranch Lodge:

    1. The deed granting the airport land to Yavapai County, including the 4.6 acres needed for the Sky Ranch Lodge expansion, limits the use for airport operations purposes only. Since Sky Ranch’s proposed 40 new lodging units, new pool with associated terraces, and 6000 sq.ft. conference center do not directly relate to airport uses nor the FAA’s Aviation Use designation, how is the City justifying the proposed Major Amendment to the Sedona Community Plan’s Future Land Use Map?

    2. Should the Plan Amendment be adopted, the zoning for the 4.6 acre expansion will have to be changed from Public/Semi-public when the appropriate time comes. How can the City be claiming it has zoning jurisdiction when the 4.6 acres are owned by the County of Yavapai–not the City–and the County has to approve the zoning change from CF to L?

    3. How many lodging units (hotel, B&B, timeshare) presently exist in Sedona, and what is the current ratio of residential units per each lodging unit?

    4. Does the City have a copy of the deed Yavapai County signed with the U.S. government in 1957 that I can see?

    Thank you very much.

  3. Warren says:

    Raber shows an inherent bias when he says: “At the public hearing, citizens and interested persons shall have an opportunity to be heard. The proposal may be modified, in part, at the public hearing.”

    Why no mention that the proposal may be denied in its entirety?

  4. Bettye says:

    For those who are interested:

    CITY OF SEDONA
    PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION
    WORK SESSION
    THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 3:30 P.M. in The Vultee Room

    The Order of Business shall be as follows:
    1. Verification of Notice, Call to Order, and Roll Call.
    2. Discussion regarding agenda item # 4 for the regularly scheduled meeting of Tuesday, September 18, 2012:
    Discussion regarding a request for a Major Amendment to the Sedona
    Community Plan’s Future Land Use Map, re-designating approximately 4.6
    acres of the airport property from Public/Semi-Public to Commercial/Lodging
    to provide for the expansion of the Sky Ranch Lodge. The existing Sky Ranch
    Lodge occupies approximately 7.3 acres and is currently designated
    Commercial/Lodging on the Community Plan Future Land Use Map. The proposal includes 40 new lodging units, a 6,000 square foot conference center and up to four affordable housing units on-site. The Sky Ranch Lodge is located along the west side of Airport Road and north of Air Terminal Drive on top of Airport Mesa. The proposed expansion is to the west of the existing lodge. This property is further described as a portion of Assessor’s Parcel Number 408-27-001.
    Applicant: Sedona Oak Creek Airport Authority/SkyRanch Operations LLC
    Case Number: CPA 2012-01

  5. Craig says:

    What about an independent audit to prove fiscal soundness? The airport and lodge want our city taxpayers money, we get to see their assets and liabilities and who is putting up and getting back what? Sound fair to you? Sounds fair to me.

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