COTTONWOOD - A Yavapai County hearing to consider the notice of violation given to the Sedona Mago Retreat Center has been delayed.
The Tao Fellowship has retained counsel over the matter. Attorney Bill Ring of Flagstaff asked the hearing officer for additional time to prepare a presentation, and that additional time was granted.
The county administrative officer holds land use hearing sessions only once a month, so the next available time is the March 12 hearing.
Cottonwood office Land Use Supervisor Boyce McDonald investigated complaints lodged against the facility at the north end of Bill Gray Road. He, subsequently, filed a violation notice alleging that the land bears a conditional use permit to allow a religious institution, but that many uses at the site are of a commercial nature instead. He says a "laundry list" of rates for uses have been widely published.
The 160-acre Sedona Mago Retreat Center is a neighbor to multi-acre residential properties.
The Tao Fellowship recently was rebuffed in attempts to seek an amendment expanding uses, and placement of a 49-foot Mago Statue and pedestal, on six acres adjacent to State Route 89A at the southern end of Bill Gray Road. The city planning commission recently asked the Fellowship to take down the statue and file a development master plan before any additional use would be allowed. A six-month conditional use permit extension, however, was granted.
