Despite being positioned barely off of Main Street, the Sawmill Gardens housing development, which features 89 homes off of East Cottonwood Street, is technically not part in the city of Cottonwood. Positioned just outside of city limits, the neighborhood is classified as unincorporated land in Yavapai County.
At a meeting on Jan. 21, the Cottonwood City Council unanimously voted to proceed on allowing Sawmill Gardens to be annexed into the city limits, after a presentation outlining the proposal was made by Cottonwood Community Development Director Scott Ellis.
According to Sawmill Gardens Homeowners Association President Randy Osborne, the desire to join the city initially came from interest in connecting to the city’s sewer lines, which was found to be too costly, but also comes from a desire to be included as part of the city’s services, such as police and fire, instead of Yavapai County.
“When we were looking into it, we discovered that we’re paying for fire service for the Verde Valley Fire District,” Osborne said. “Even though we’re a stone’s throw from the city limits, we’re considered county. So the average homeowner in here is paying about $350 a year for fire coverage from the Verde Valley Fire District, versus zero for part of Cottonwood.”
Similarly, the development has been relying on the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, despite being less than two miles from the headquarters of the Cottonwood Police Department.
“Not very often, maybe once or twice a year, we will need to call for law enforcement in here, and it can take literally an hour to get someone here,” Osborne said.
Osborne also pointed to reduced water rates for those inside city limits as a reason to seek annexation.
According to Osborne, the HOA held an internal vote, which came out 30 to 3 in favor of annexation. Though he said he did not know the reasons for the dissenting views, he said that the only downside he could see was for landlords, since entering the city would mean paying a sales tax on renting.
Ellis pointed to shared fire, police, building and code enforcement services as benefits for the city as well, and also noted that the city would benefit from shared state tax revenues based on increased population and had the potential of collecting sales tax [such as the rental taxes] if applicable.
With the council’s vote, the process of annexation has begun. The HOA next needs to hold a public hearing on Tuesday, March 3, to discuss and collect property owner signatures from 51% of parcels and 51% of the property value. A pre-annexation agreement and infrastructure plan will be developed by Cottonwood city staff, and then the council will have to vote again on an ordinance officially annexing the development.
