PRESCOTT - When a realty office set up shop at the Old Stage Country Store at the corner of Williamson Valley and Outer Loop roads, local residents cried foul.
They saw it as a slap in the face from developer John Hunt and Old Stage Properties LLC.
Residents reluctantly stopped fighting the country store when the developer agreed to provide a community meeting room in the building.
When the Yavapai County Planning and Zoning Commission and the Board of Supervisors approved the conditional zoning map change in January 2005, it limited the development to the country store and gas pumps as outlined in the applicant's letter of intent.
On May 9, officials of Old Stage Properties LLC applied for zoning change amendment to C-1F to allow for business offices, banks and similar uses.
While the 2005 zoning change stipulations did not include a community meeting room, applicant Bill Riviere, speaking on behalf of Hunt
Properties, verbally promised a community meeting room at the store.
Former Chino Valley Mayor Dan Main opened a realty office at the Old Stage Country Store in January - right where residents anticipated the community room.
Local residents believe this is a direct violation of the conditional zoning change.
Main, who indicated Wednesday evening that he is a part owner of the building, said he moved in "under the assumption I had the legal right to do so. I have a set of plans stamped by the county showing a real estate office."
Main conducted the second of two public meetings Wednesday at the real estate office.
Main submitted an application to the Yavapai County Development Services department May 9 to amend the conditional zoning map change approved in 2005. He must conduct public meetings as part of the application process.
Residents attending Wednesday's meeting verbally attacked Main's character and integrity. They said he should move his real estate office out of the country store voluntarily.
Main, on the other hand, said he received legal advice to stay until the county decides his amendment application.
Speaking on behalf of the Friends of Williamson Valley, Mariann Littell said, "It is the position of Friends of Williamson Valley Inc. that there should be no further zoning map changes in the Williamson Valley Corridor until a Williamson Valley Corridor Plan is adopted."
Williamson Valley resident Frank Deak said Main moved into the store "without knowing all the information. He is trying to handle it. The county says 'go through the process.'"
Littell said that as a former mayor and having served on the Chino Valley Planning and Zoning Commission, Main "should have known the process before moving here."
Main said that during lease negotiations he repeatedly asked for a paragraph indicating "the legal right to be here. It was always taken out."
Local resident and Williamson Valley Corridor Plan board member John Freeman the complaints submitted to the county also included outside banners and "someone trying to sell tractors on both corners" of the intersection.
Freeman said what it amounts to is "shenanigans, people trying to sell things not associated with the store."
Speaking as a local resident, Littell compared the real estate office with illegal aliens crossing the border "who want amnesty after the fact."
Planning Manager Elise Link said the real estate office is operating illegally because in 2005 the zoning map change was "approved as a conditional zoning map change only for the store and gas station."
She said the "whole point of a conditional change is that if the applicant wants to do something else he would have to go back through the process."
Development Services Director Ken Spedding said the planning commissioners and supervisors typically approve site zoning map changes that are site specific.
"It is not unusual to receive an amendment application. When doing rezoning, the commissioners and supervisors want to know what the use is. The trend is to really tie down the use," Spedding said.
Link said, "Technically, Main should cease and desist, but since we have an application in place, the county is not going to pursue it."
Land Use Manager Steve Mauk said when county officials identify any violation of the code, "the first thing we do is give the property owner the opportunity to come into compliance, either through a variance or a zoning amendment."
Mauk said his office received several inquiries about the real estate office from area residents and staff members who know about the zoning.
Spedding said property owners respond to a notice of violation by asking what they can do to come into compliance.
"They can either cease operations or apply for an amendment. If something presented a health or safety situation, we would not allow it to remain operating," Spedding said. "The building itself is probably fine to accommodate this business."
Link said the planning and zoning commission would consider the zoning map amendment during its July 11 meeting in Prescott.
The Daily Courier tried several times unsuccessfully to speak with developer John Hunt.
