Note: This story has been updated with a comment from the property owners requesting approval for the project.
Last November, the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a zone change from rural residential to commercial for a 4.74-acre Village of Oak Creek parcel of undeveloped land at the corner of Jacks Canyon Road and State Route 179.
The parcel owners, Chandrika and Jack Patel, propose to build a 154-room Hilton Garden Inn at the site.
The plan has its detractors among residents of VOC. The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors said it received over 1,500 letters of opposition to the project before the unanimous Nov. 20 zone change vote. Those in favor of the change argued that the parcel was situated in what has obviously become a commercial corridor and approving the zone change allowed the county to leverage height limits and other concessions from the project proponents.
But the county’s rezoning of the parcel did not clear all obstructions for the Hilton. Among other hurdles, the parcel is part of the Village of Oakcreek Association and is subject to the HOA’s covenants, conditions and restrictions for the Pine Creek II subdivision.
Many opponents are now hoping that the HOA can stand as a bulwark against the hotel. But while affirming the homeowner association’s authority over the hotel’s design, VOCA President Gwen Hanna has also tried to lower the expectations of residents opposed to the project.
VOCA’s oversight “doesn’t mean that we can block a hotel,” Hanna said at an Aug. 26 board meeting. “If that hotel is in total compliance to our governing documents, then our sole and focused responsibility as an architectural review committee and as a board is to determine whether or not the request they’re making maps with our governing documents.”
In a community newsletter and VOCA’s August board meeting, Hanna emphasized that the architectural committee cannot approve or deny the project on the basis of other considerations, like traffic nor scenic integrity.
At the same time, though, VOCA has so far stood firm in denying a variance to the Patels for their proposal.
In July, the Patels began VOCA’s architectural review process, submitting plans to the association’s Architectural Review and Restrictions Committee. At the committee’s Aug. 6 meeting, members determined that the Hilton project would require a variance for the subdivision’s “no full two-story buildings” clause and voted unanimously to deny approval of the variance.
The Patels appealed the denial at a special meeting of the architectural committee on Sept. 8. The committee voted to uphold the denial.
The Patels now have the right to appeal the committee’s decision to the VOCA board of directors.
“We are very disappointed that the VOCA Architectural Review Committee chose to deny this project. The Patels are considering all of their options,” Jennifer Boblick, an attorney for the Patels, wrote in an email.
