Saddlerock Crossing asks for 2 extra years to secure building permits

The Village at Saddlerock Crossing received a unanimous recommendation for approval for a two-year extension of its development review approvals and zone change from the Sedona Planning and Zoning Commission during its meeting Tuesday, Aug. 4.

The seven-member commission recommended the future 100-unit hotel and 46 workforce apartments in five buildings across 6.36 acres at 1259 W. State Route 89A be allowed extra time to secure its permits.

The time extension request goes before the Sedona City Council on Tuesday, Sept. 8, according to city Planning Manager Cari Meyer.

“Without a time extension for the Zone Change and Development Review application, permits would not be able to be issued after Thursday, Sept. 24,” the P&Z meeting packet reads. “As the Zone Change is conditioned on the completion of the approved project, without building permits, the conditions of approval will not be met and the city may initiate proceedings to revoke the Zone Change.”

The city’s Community Development Department recommended approval of the extension, and no major changes to the project have been made since its approval.

On Sept. 24, 2024, the Sedona City Council voted 4-3 to approve a zone change from commercial and medium-high density multi-family to lodging and a development agreement for the project by Baney Corporation, a company based in Bend, Oregon, headed by Curt Baney. Voting against were the mayor at the time, Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella and then-Councilwoman Holli Ploog, who is Sedona’s interim mayor until November.

“Approval is subject to a two-year time frame in which the developer has to receive permits and commence construction,” said Alex Hayes, an attorney with Withey Morris Baugh representing the Baneys. “One year is exceptionally tight to achieve that, and two years is also a challenge under many circumstances. Certainly, on a project that is as complicated as this one with multiple development types within it; a boutique hotel, food, beverage and the workforce housing and the [underground parking] garage. [All] require significant engineering and design work.”

Permit applications for grading and the multifamily and parking structure were submitted March 5, followed by the hotel buildings on April 9. Community Development returned comments on all three June 8, and the plans are being reworked for resubmittal.

“I don’t think they’re going to need two years,” Hayes said. “We’re getting ready to make our resubmittals. I think we’ll be working through that process well within that two-year time frame.”

Hayes later added that the reason the company asked for the full two years is to avoid the need to make a return appearance before the commission.

The Saddlerock Crossing site has not sat idle, because the Oak Creek Water District has staged construction equipment on the vacant lot since January 2024, with the Baneys’ permission, for its $16.1 million project replacing about eight miles of water mains in the neighborhood it serves on the south side of State Route 89A,

“We just spoke with [the] foreman today out there, and said around 10 months is what he was thinking” for completion of Oak Creek Water’s project, said Hayden Baney, another owner of Baney Corporation. “But our timelines may be converging on each other. So we’ll see about that.”

The meeting was also the first for Commissioner Daniel Wiencek following his unanimous appointment by City Council on June 9. Wiencek’s term ends on Sunday, Oct. 31, 2027. He served on the city council in Powell, Ohio, from 2000 to 2008, including a stint as appointed mayor, and sat on Powell’s zoning commission for 12 years. Locally, Wiencek was a member of the Budget Review Committee in 2024 and completed the Sedona Citizens Academy in 2023.

Saddlerock Crossing’s schedule, included in the packet, shows permitting wrapping up on Thursday, Dec. 24, and the construction period starting on Monday, Dec. 28.