The Sedona City Council held its second public meeting on the Western Gateway Master Plan on Dec. 10.
About 40 people attended the first three hours and 47 minutes of the nearly six-and-a-half-hour work session, after which the remaining time was devoted to the Wastewater Reclamation Plant Facility Plan and a presentation from the Sustainability Department.
The discussion focused on the Sedona International Film Festival’s pitch to council to allow the nonprofit to use 3.4 acres of land at the Western Gateway across two blocks of land off of State Route 89A to relocate its entire operation, including the Mary D. Fisher and the Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatres.
Representatives from local nonprofit Sedona Cultural Park 2.0 were on hand to discuss their vision to reopen the 5,500-seat Georgia Frontiere Performing Arts Pavilion at the Western Gateway.
Sedona resident Allan Affeldt, also presented his conceptual plan that would incorporate housing and arts facilities on the site.
SIFF
SIFF Executive Director Patrick Schweiss outlined plans for a four-theater complex at the Western Gateway with an estimated cost of $20 million to $25 million. The proposal includes relocating the Mary D. Fisher Theatre and expanding the Alice Gill-Sheldon Theatre to approximately 100 seats, along with constructing a 150-seat flexible theater with removable seating that can serve as event space, and a new 300-seat theater.
“We’re not asking the city for funds to build this theater,” Schweiss said, and added that he hopes that the city will grant SIFF early development on the parcels at the Western Gateway.
Schweiss requested the council allow SIFF to break ground within 18 months to two years, with the theaters operational in three-and-a-half to four years. He noted he is currently 59 and doesn’t want to be building the project at 70. Schweiss said SIFF must decide by late spring or early summer whether to sign a new five-year lease option at its current location.
The project would occupy 3.4 acres across two blocks off State Route 89A. A four-theater complex with 120 parking spaces would be built immediately west of Yavapai College’s Sedona Center, with an additional 1.1-acre parking lot on a separate parcel accessed by a connecting road.
Schweiss told SIFF donors in October that consolidating facilities at the Western Gateway would allow the festival to keep operations within a two-block radius while still renting the Sedona Performing Arts Center and Yavapai College facilities. He expressed confidence that the pedestrian crossing between parcels at the Western Gateway wouldn’t create traffic bottlenecks since motorists would use the existing traffic light intersection.
SIFF is looking to develop other properties, but Schweiss declined to identify those to the NEWS.
Sedona Cultural Park 2.0
The Sedona Cultural Park 2.0 wants to see the performance venue at the Western Gateway reopened in a $2 million Phase 1 with a 1,845 seating capacity; a Phase 2, $7.5 million project to bring the capacity to 5,063; and a Phase 3, $12.3 million project.
“I think the business model that we were looking at was renovating this with donations, and it’s very similar to what Pat was doing with [SIFF],” Sedona Cultural Park 2.0 member Jennifer May said. “You have donations from different entities, different benefactors, different sponsorships, things like that. As far as the running of it, you would probably be partnering with one of the major music amphitheater managers, like a Live Nation, or an AEG.”
“The key to refining the business plan, as Jennifer May has just said, is that we need to work with promoters like Live Nation … these companies you know of, but they need a formal endorsement from the city that this is worth their time to work on, and that this is a serious prospect,” Sedona Cultural Park 2.0 Secretary Chris Ford said during the public comment.
‘Sword of Damocles’
A major unknown in the Western Gateway’s future is a pending ballot initiative filed in May by Sedona resident Bill Noonan through his Save Sedona Committee. The proposed “Sedona Cultural Park Preservation Act” would designate the 41-acre property as a park for recreation and cultural activities while prohibiting any residential development or overnight camping.
SIFF is “not precluded from being there,” if the initiative passes, Community Development Director Tony Allender later said. “Because [the initiative] does mention film festivals, and theaters are allowed in the park.”
The committee aims to place the measure on the July primary ballot, though the city attorney has suggested it may face legal challenges as “zoning by initiative.”
“I would like for it to be on the primary election, but the city has told me that they would delay it until the November election,” Noonan said to the NEWS adding that he was not asked to speak at the work session.
The ballot initiative drew criticism from Councilwoman Melissa Dunn during the meeting who argued the land was purchased specifically for housing.
“If there’s no compromise here … then we need a plan B that says we don’t use this property, [and] we figure out a way to get rid of this property,” Dunn said. ”I don’t like the feeling of a Sword of Damocles, of a threat hanging over my head that tells me that at some point in time this land is going to be useless.”
“When the Cultural Park was created in 1995 by a unanimous vote of the City Council … the City Council turned to the people and said, ‘We know that there’s disagreement about what we’re doing, and we ask you, and we invite you to have a referendum on the matter,’” Noonan said. “The Cultural Park was created by a vote of the residents in Proposition 400. That showed the kind of leadership that the city had at that time … it’s a different approach that council is taking now that they considered a threat, or a Sword of Damocles, for the residents to express their opinions on the matter.”
The Western Gateway land is currently zoned as Planned Development and any construction there such as SIFF will require zone changes.
“I’m just trying to be an intermediate third party to see if there’s some common ground that we can find that enables SIFF and SCP 2.0 and the amphitheater and housing to take place on this property,” Affeldt said. “In the last month, we made enormous strides,” adding that Yavapai Community College and The Fine Art Museum of Sedona interested in being involved.
Affeldt said the next step should be “a charrette that brings all of the parties together … to talk about how we could update the master plan to meet everyone’s needs.”
Mayor Holli Ploog said SIFF has a more developed proposal, calling it “a more mature organization with a proven track record,” while noting that Sedona Cultural Park 2.0 is earlier in the process and still has unanswered questions. She said skepticism is appropriate, but a charrette could be a constructive next step.
A charrette is a short, collaborative planning process that brings stakeholders together to develop concepts and define next steps in a development. Allender said a charrette typically lasts a few days. He said the process would require authorization and direction from council on parameters, such as whether to form a committee.
Ploog limited public comments to 90 seconds per speaker during the call to the public, which including 15 speakers.
The council will revisit the Western Gateway on Thursday, Dec. 19, during its annual retreat starting about 1 p.m. to discuss possible next steps for the Western Gateway Master Plan, including the Sedona International Film Festival. Council has also directed staff to complete a housing strategy outlining future housing needs to assist with housing allocation for the Western Gateway Master Plan, with work sessions planned for February.
