By Steve Segner
Sedona, AZ — On Wednesday, December 10, at 2:00 PM, the Sedona City Council will hold a work session at City Hall focused on the Western Gateway, the property once known as the Cultural Park. The City purchased this land with bond funds and has long intended it to serve core community needs such as housing, neighborhood-scale recreation, and community-serving uses.
At the same meeting, City staff will present findings from engineers and scientists on the condition of the soil at the Dells. Their analysis addresses whether any special remediation would be required to develop or build on that property. The conclusion: the soil is suitable for development, effectively clearing a major technical question about the Dells’ future use.
The primary purpose of this work session, however, is not to make final decisions, but to listen. City Council will hear from three separate groups, each representing a different vision for Sedona’s future:
- First, a group called Cultural Park 2.0 is advocating for revitalizing or repurposing the former Cultural Park amphitheater into a large-scale cultural and entertainment venue. Their plan includes some housing but is primarily focused on restoring a central performance facility. Much of what they propose is aspirational, with limited detail so far on business logic, funding, and long-term operational responsibility for a 5,000-seat amphitheater—especially given the City’s $22 million investment to acquire the land, including roughly $10 million in bonds, primarily to address housing needs.
- Second, another perspective by Allan Affeldt, a Sedona resident with substantial development background, argues for rebuilding the amphitheater as a major entertainment venue, comparable to other large amphitheaters in the country. He is not affiliated with Cultural Park 2.0. Still, he agrees with the concept of restoring the amphitheater, provided thorough investigation and perhaps a new RFP to gather verifiable, compelling data on its potential for success.
- Third, the Sedona International Film Festival will present its vision for a major theater complex at the Western Gateway on commercially owned property. Ideally, this presentation will recognize that the City’s Western Gateway Master Plan—developed with significant public investment, research, and community outreach—already contemplated commercial areas that could potentially accommodate a film and performance complex.
Notably absent from the speaker lineup is any group explicitly presenting the long-standing Western Gateway Master Plan itself: a vision that includes a hundreds apartments and townhomes, a multi-acre community park, a smaller amphitheater of about 1,000 seats, space for a 30,000–40,000 square-foot community recreation center similar to Cottonwood’s, and a commercial area that could host the Film Festival’s dreams or other appropriate uses. A key question for this meeting is whether the adopted draft plan—still posted on the City’s website, PlanSedona.com, has been quietly set aside or remains the guiding framework.
Together, these presentations will give City Council a sharper picture of the choices ahead: whether to revive large pieces of Sedona’s past, or to lean into the original, community-focused purpose for which the Western Gateway was purchased.
For those interested in a broader, future-focused exploration of what the Dells could become, the public is invited to visit SedonaDells.com. The site presents a more comprehensive set of ideas for the long-term use of the Dells—property located approximately five minutes west of downtown Sedona, within Sedona city limits—centered on parkland, open space, recreation, and thoughtful master planning as part of Sedona’s future growth. The website also proposes that, if Sedona is to pursue a large-capacity amphitheater that can be realistically managed for traffic, operations, and impacts, the Dells would be the more appropriate location, envisioned as part of a first phase of development within a proposed “Sedona Dells Park” on approximately 30 to 50 acres of this city-owned property. It imagines such a park could open as soon as 2030.
You can watch the December 10, 2:00 PM meeting live online at the City’s website:
https://www.sedonaaz.gov/your-government/departments/city-clerk/council-commissions-committees-boards/city-council/meetings-live-webcast-video-audio
The complete packet of presentations, for this meeting can be downloaded and viewed at: https://www.sedonaaz.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/55412
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5 Comments
I went to the Dells website. A bit over the top with all the green grass and mature trees.
We need to help our workers first and foremost! The housing should be the first thing. Amphitheater? Dont care for now, set the land aside if you wish.
Now P&Z has approved a high end housing that exceeds massing and hights by the Wilde resort. Garages, driveways. This wont be affordable or helpful for the regular person. Its a joke. I watched it on my TV all these Principals, and people thinking a young family can afford to live there. Really? Rents at $3000 or $4000 a month? On a teaches salary? In this state?
I had many disagreements with Mayor Jablow about the Dells. He said putting housing out there would be excluding them from the city. I dont believe it one bit. People need to feel safe, have a roof over their head, not live in a car. Give them the respect they deserve and keep it so they can save some money and enjoy Sedona also!
We need to feed it with good public transportation, cars are expensive, have to be repaired, gas, insurance. Not having a car if you with saves money for other things.This shouldnt be that hard if we all get on the same page.
Lets take care of our workers first, then worry about all the frills. I am all for the Dells and any other place for AFFORDABLE housing! Not a place that all your money goes into RENTS!
WS Dave,
I must admit I was wrong on the time frame that the city last upgraded the sewage treatment facility. I based my assumption upon the average age of the lines, meters and homes in West Sedona. Injection wells do have a lot of negative press online for their propensity to contaminate groundwater/aquifer’s. I believe Sedona has grade A highly chlorinated drinking water coming out of the facility as an end product. And you know I fully agree with you sentiments regarding AFFORDABLE housing for our lower- mid income employees who cannot afford a home anywhere within reason of their workplaces. I am however, and I think you know this- against using the Dels for that purpose for a number of reasons.
A) it is considered a wildlife reserve area where birds, deer, elk, pronghorn, javelina etc. tend to gather in relative security from hunters. People do go there to see the wildlife and housing would likely destroy it.
B) Though the facilities end product is Grade A, what goes into it is not! And that includes the non potable contaminated water they spray upon the fenced in leaching fields on the south side of 89A (across the road) which then leaches into the “Dels” or leaching ponds which are also non potable. Having housing within a half mile or more of the facility would be a crime against those who end up residing there. The soil has toxins and when that soil dries up and the wind blows those toxins become airborne and residents would eventually become ill or die and the city sued for far more than it cost to build housing down there. There are many more viable and habitable plots of land in and around Sedona (some with existing abandoned structures like abandoned motels in the canyon). Just saying, I’m all for AFFORDABLE housing but not at the expense of the occupants health just to build in an area that is easy to build upon but toxic.
A+ Affluent Water (or Class A+ Reclaimed Water) is top-tier treated wastewater in Arizona, meeting stringent standards (secondary treatment, filtration, disinfection, low turbidity, no fecal coliforms) for uses like landscape irrigation, dust control, toilet flushing, and even aquifer recharge, though not yet directly for drinking without advanced purification for potential potable reuse
. It signifies high quality, allowing for diverse non-potable reuse, conserving precious drinking water resources in arid regions.
What it means (the “A+”)
Advanced Treatment: Involves secondary treatment, fine filtration, nitrogen removal, and disinfection (often UV or chlorine).
Strict Quality: Very low turbidity (cloudiness) and virtually no fecal coliform bacteria, meeting criteria for various uses.
Uses: Approved for golf course irrigation, landscape watering, dust suppression, car washes, toilet flushing, concrete mixing, and soil compaction.
Why it’s important in Arizona
Water Conservation: Reduces reliance on limited drinking water supplies (like groundwater) by substituting it with high-quality reclaimed water.
Aquifer Recharge: Can be used in recharge basins to replenish groundwater, as seen in Chino Valley and Prescott.
Community Water Stewardship: Shows commitment to reusing every drop, with cities like Prescott, Chino Valley, and Cottonwood operating A+ facilities.
Key Difference from Other Classes (like Class B)
Class B: Meets basic standards for uses like golf course irrigation but allows higher levels of bacteria.
Class A+: Is a significant step up, ensuring water so clean it can be used more broadly, closer to drinking water quality (though still classified as non-potable for general reuse).
Yep.But as I’ve stated, it is an A+ end product but what is being sprayed on those leaching fields. Which if anything needs to be constructed is another leaching field or 2. I know they rotate spraying water in different areas of the current field, but it would be wiser to have one or two more of them to have greater rotation kinda like farmers do with their crops and how cattle ranchers should be rotating grazing areas. Using the same couple of acres over and over again one would think unwise. Still wouldn’t want to live within a 1/2 mile or more of the facility because of the caustic dust from the leaching fields that are dry and not being sprayed as well as the lovely military outhouse smell that is there most of the time (driving down 89A with the windows up you certainly can). Just think it incredibly unwise to house our most vulnerable locally employed people anywhere near it for those very reasons.
I’m all for anyplace safe, temperature controlled, non toxic to provide affordable housing. Heck even a German fest tent with portioned off rooms like we had on deployments in any City owned non toxic plot off land that can fit one or better yet 2 fest tents one male and one female would be a marked improvement over living in one’s car and constantly being forced to move.
Anyway, glad we could discuss without anyone injecting propaganda or other nonsense into the conversation.
West Sedona Dave: I had a very similar conversation with Jablow; however, that was three years before the City annexed the property into the city limits. Now that the Dells is within the city limits, I’m sure his answer would be different.