By Steve Segner, President
Sedona Lodging Council
(September 19, 2014)
- In reading the article in the Sedona Red Rock News posted September 19,2014, I have trouble with several comments: Regarding the Marriott refusal to pay fees: Quote: “It is against Marriott Company Policy to provide affordable housing, and will not pay the fee.” Marriot has agreed to give us a flag lot they say is worth $400,000 and $15,000 for the forest service. All the other hotels in Sedona have paid the fee and I am sure it was against their Corporate Policies, but they paid it. The city should not let the Marriott off the $400,000 hook because of their company policy and stick the city with “Open Space” to be used by Marriott customers.
- Western Gateway: This will be the first hotel you will see coming into Sedona from the West, and it will be a cookie cutter hotel. This particular developer has said he would like to come back at a later date and build a Residence Inn. The Planning and Zoning Commission cannot look at income impact of this development, but the City can? The City of Sedona should ask itself how many new hotels rooms can the City support? At what point do the residents start to push back for over-building? The City should look at the economic impact of the hundreds of new hotels rooms that are planned for Sedona. Yes, the rooms can be booked on weekends, but what about mid-week? Has the City considered this at all?
- Lastly, Sedona is the only city in America with green golden arches. That says something about our own view of what Sedona should look like – agreen city. Let us not lose the vision of what Sedona is and should continue to be
Food for thought.
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11 Comments
The corner is by the Red Rock High School… Can you see how the traffic will be at the light there?? This Marriott location is a invasion of our space… And is riding on our beloved Sedona…tourist attraction of Red Rocks.. Do we need or want it??
The divide between residents and city government grows wider and deeper as development continues without resident support. BTW, if we really wanted a “green” city, it would step forward and outlaw ALL WIRELESS TRANSMISSIONS because unless we do so all biologically based beings will suffer health consequences sometimes leading to death and depending on babies/children age at exposure could effect their sterility. Olle Johannson of Karolinska Institute already estimates “irreversible sterility” in five generations (e.g., 150 years). Ask yourselves if your convenience is worth the destruction on living beings caused by microwave radiation.
If this kind of urban sprawl is allowed to happen,
Sedona will end up looking like a mini Los Angeles. Is that what we really see the future of our great and beautiful city ending up as???
My opinion on these hotel chains dictating to us what they will or will not do is totally unacceptable and bad for Sedona
Sedona has dealt with arrogant developers before, and stood its ground. We rejected Denny’s big yellow sign, and they said “Then we won’t come to Sedona” and we said “fine”. We didn’t allow McDonalds’ big golden arches, so now we have a small turquoise sign and that works for McD and for Sedona’s standards.
If Marriott won’t even cooperate with the sweetheart deal they’re offered here, we don’t need them anyway. City rezoning for a developer requires community benefits, and that’s more than 3/4 acre of what they call “open space.” There is no community benefit here, beyond the standard requirements which include a provision for affordable housing to partially house a few of the low-paid workers a hotel employs. The paltry 0.77 acres they offer are an insult, and there is no other community benefit to this developent.
The real community benefit would be for the City Council to deny this rezoning. That would reject a development that would add to the burden of increasing traffic congestion on West 89A. There are better potential uses for this property. We have enough empty lodging rooms and retail space now. If this property must go commercial, let’s find a development that can provide higher-paying jobs for our graduating young people — not more low-pay jobs for people who can’t live here.
Agreed with Frank Koch. We have a beautiful city, lets keep it that way. If we don’t no one will.
FYI I lived in Tuscany for 14 years. They don’t allow ANY building except for:
a. Building on a pre-existing foundation – property with a few stones – 600 yr old ruins go for millions and beautiful empty pieces of land in expensive areas sell for nothing because no one can’t do anything with it
b. Occasional approved apts for lower income housing (keep in mind buying a house in Tuscany now costs well over a million, without this young people would be able to buy a home).
The end result is Tuscany is one of the most beautiful areas in the world, an ongoing tourist attraction, and the identity of the area has been preserved.
Otherwise can you imagine what hotel chains, MacDonalds, KFH, parking lots etc etc etc would have done to it?
Perhaps we could use some of that intelligence over here before Sedona is completely overrun.
A basic question that no one seems to be able answer is “How many visitors (tourists) is too many?” Our infrastructure, sewer, roads can only support so many visitors. Yet our city government and Chamber of Commerce seem to always take the view that “more is better.” It’s time for the residents to say enough is enough.
Anyone who has been on the corner of 89A and Upper Red Rock Loop Rd in the morning as students are arriving and in the afternoon when they are leaving will know why the Marriot is a bad idea. Someone should stand at the corner during these heavy traffic times with a video camera to show at City Council meeting – or have council members go to Sedona Summit and ask those at the timeshares if they mind that long line of traffic every day.
I can’t understand why it’s OK for Marriot but not OK when Georgia Frontiera wanted to do the same thing, causing the closure of the Cultural Park.
The Marriot should build elsewhere. It’s not a good idea to put 122 rooms across the street from the high school, where many of the drivers got their driver’s license yesterday. It is not safe for our children to have such a huge population with 200 additional cars there at any given time.
Enough is enough. City council = please do not green light this project.
As a resident of the Loop, I’m also concerned about traffic. It’s been like pulling teeth to get the City of Sedona to even minimally maintain the Upper Loop Road within city limits.
As to the Marrriot paying the mandated housing impact fees, the question to ask the Council is: where is this money going? There has been an Affordable Housing Fund for years, but has any of it gone toward that end?
When I served on the Sedona Housing Commission, the fund contained $200,000. Our Commission developed many ideas to really put that money into affordable housing, including a partnership with Habitat for Humanity. The Council blocked our efforts at every turn. Then they abolished the Commission. So where is the money? And where are future fees going? Ask them that!
I care about Sedona “policy” not Marriott “policy”. A fake stone, cookie-cutter, heavily signed development may be less inappropriate for the center of town but certainly not at the Sedona Gateway. I’m sure Marriott can afford to pay the affordable housing tax as other developers have. Meet our standards or build it elsewhere.
How Interesting The Comments. The Residents Had The Opportunity To Turn West Sedona Into A Magical Place For Residents And Visitors. You Rejected It. And Now You Complain. Amazing.
Sedona has nearly as many AAA hotels as Scottsdale. Weekend traffic congestion in Uptown and on its Hwy. 89A and 179 approaches is unbelievable, funding for road maintenance is scant, streets remain in disrepair, and livability is declining.
Sedona has had an excessive number of commercial vacancies for several years now. Businesses such as the Car Wash and Thrifty Mountain Supply are closing their doors at this time. In the past year the former Iris Garden Inn on Jordan Road had three different owners and names (Iris Garden Inn, Rodeway and Saad). Etc. Increasing the number of lodgings in a City where tourism is the sole industry risks economic collapse during very hard times.