Inappropriate & Incompatible Rezoning Request

AutoCamp, a California developer, is attempting to change the current RCU-2A zoning to Planned Area Development (PAD) to build a commercial lodging/resort development at the base of Bear Mountain.

What does the current RCU-2A zoning allow? A maximum of 8-9 single family residences.

What is AutoCamp proposing? An 18-acre development consisting of 100 camping units (85 airstream trailers, 10 huts, 5 tents), a clubhouse and other amenities.

The change of use from residential to commercial and significant increase in density is inappropriate and incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood.

Homeowners in the area bought and built their homes based on the quiet rural setting and beauty of Bear Mountain - not to be next to a development approximately the size of a large hotel.

Based on our interpretation of the Yavapai County Planning and Zoning Ordinance, we DO NOT believe AutoCamp’s rezoning request meet the uses permitted in a PAD.

See what the City of Sedona and Keep Sedona Beautiful have to say.

Fire & Public Safety Risk

AutoCamp’s proposed development is a huge fire risk.

The area has Stage 1 and Stage 2 fire restriction days every year due to high winds and low humidity, yet one of AutoCamp’s major selling points are open fire pits - 100 of them!

Combine this with the fact that Northern Arizona is experiencing a mega-drought makes AutoCamp’s proposal even more dangerous. See Sedona’s wildfire risk factor data by clicking here.

The risk of fire is so high that the lands surrounding AutoCamp’s proposed development are designated by the U.S. Forest Service as NO camping and NO campfires 365 days a year…but AutoCamp believes 100 fire pits and communal fire areas are a good idea.

To make matters worse, the property sits at the mouth of a northeast facing canyon, all in the wilderness area.

With the area’s strong gusty winds, one spark on a hot, dry day and that canyon and the lands beyond will be up in flames, and the fire department is at least 15 minutes away and helicopters to dump retardant are even farther away.

Wildfire and hotshot crews call this type of canyon a “Chimney” because they draw fire up quickly and rapidly. The chimney leads directly to the interior of Secret Mountain Wilderness and residential homes are approximately a half mile away.

Here is what Anchor Point Group, LLC, who conducted a Wildfire Risk Review, had to say:

“The introduction of a large, busy campground with open fire pits into a very dry, flammable wildland fire environment creates hazard and risk to residents, firefighters, and surrounding values at risk. The hazard is presented by campfires, up to 100 per day, ignited by campground users unfamiliar with safe fire practices. These same users would increase foot traffic in the area; one carelessly discarded, smoldering cigarette could ignite a problematic wildfire. The risk is presented by the high likelihood of an ignited wildfire reaching and adversely impacting local residences, commercial properties, and natural and archeological resources. The risk posed to residents and firefighters would be substantial.”

Click here to read the complete Wildfire Risk Review.

In addition to the significant fire risk, AutoCamp’s proposed development is a public safety nightmare.

We will likely see depleted public safety resources when Sedona and/or the County need to respond to an issue at the property due to travel time. This will delay response times within our city.

Access to and from the site includes narrow streets with just one way in and out, making evacuation difficult. Not to mention the cell service is adequate at best, which is concerning in case of an emergency.

Lastly, we will see an increase in traffic, leading to more gridlock, accidents and service calls.

More Traffic, More Noise, More Pollution

AutoCamp estimates at least 151,000 roundtrips to their site per year.

This huge increase in traffic from AutoCamp visitors and employees will lead to:

• More gridlock

• More pollution

• More service calls

• More wear and tear on our infrastructure

• More fire risk (we know from all the brushfires along I-17 this season that vehicles create sparks and drivers throw burning cigarette butts out)

Furthermore, Sedona will see even more traffic due to an increase in demand for recreational experiences.

We already have traffic issues in Sedona. We already have parking issues in Sedona. Adding more than 150,000 roundtrips will overburden our roads and accelerate overcapacity parking problems at our trailheads.

In addition to longer commutes for Verde Valley residents, the increase in traffic AutoCamp will bring more noise to the surrounding area and end what is now a quiet, peaceful sanctuary that we all love and enjoy.

The bottom line: Increasing traffic, noise and pollution is unacceptable and is the last thing we need in Sedona.

Environmental & Cultural Harm

If more traffic, noise and pollution was not bad enough, AutoCamp will have a detrimental impact on the sensitive surrounding wilderness environment.

In fact, there is not a worse place for such a high-density, high turnover commercial lodging/resort development.

The parcel of land AutoCamp’s requesting to develop, as well as the new road they’re asking for, are both on the boundary of Secret Mountain Wilderness - a federally designated area due to its remoteness, richness of wildlife, and profusion of Indian ruins and petroglyphs.

Keep Sedona Beautiful said the following and we agree:

“Given the experience that the Verde Valley has had with so many visitors defacing the landscape with graffiti, creating social trails that wreak havoc on the land, leaving trash wherever they are and ignoring educational signage on trailheads and brochures, Keep Sedona Beautiful is convinced that many guests at AutoCamp will do the same.

We do not expect that the thin 2-strand fence that surrounds the property will deter visitors from hiking off into the wilderness from the property.”

In addition, AutoCamp’s proposed new road will cross an arroyo, a critical water source for the Robinson Tank. How does the Robinson Tank in our desert environment survive the level of construction and ongoing traffic, both vehicles and people?

Moreover, the current road is stated as primitive by the U.S. Forest Service to reduce traffic through this environmental sensitive area.

Lastly, the area is home to many antiquities such as:

• Petroglyphs

• Pictographs

• Puebloan structures

This is why many of the local Native American tribes consider the area to be sacred and why the land is protected.

It’s vital we protect our local soils and fragile ecosystem, not risk unrecoverable damage.