Lake Montezuma residents haven’t yet gotten their Christmas wish: A refilled lake — the namesake of the community — that has been dry since spring 2023.
Douglas Edgelow, the owner of Sedona Vineyards LLC, purchased the former Beaver Creek Golf Course, including the water feature known as Lake Montezuma, for $2.5 million in August 2022, and has since announced plans to turn the property into a 50-room boutique hotel with 57 wine villas and a 7,000-square-foot restaurant.
“Our walking and biking trails are throughout the 108 acres,” the Sedona Vineyards website states. “They run by the creek and our lake on property, where we will also have a fishing dock. Our lake is a temporary home to many interesting birds/geese since it’s on a migratory path. The property sits at 3,500 feet elevation and has wildlife like deer and javelinas that are regularly seen.”
That lake “on a migratory path” has been dry since Edgelow emptied it in the spring of 2023.
“[Residents] are very upset about the lake not being filled,” Yavapai County District 2 Supervisor James Gregory said. “I don’t blame them, that’s a nice community, and [that’s the] centerpiece of it.”
Edgelow “indicated that he had drained the pond to perform remediation on the overgrown weeds encroaching on the bank, and to perform some other repair and maintenance work on the pump house and the inlet to the pump house, which was evidently full of mud,” Yavapai County Development Services Director Jeremy Dye said.
Maintaining the lake is a condition of the property’s Planned Area Development zoning that was established in October 2004. Under state statute, any violation of a zoning ordinance is a Class 2 misdemeanor, and Edgelow’s responsibility.
Dye said that because of the complexity of the situation, Edgelow was granted extensions to bring the property into compliance.
“The enforcement started with our Code Compliance Division,” Dye said. “They sent a letter to [Edgelow] … saying that the violation was observed. Subsequently he went to the administrative hearing officer, which is kind of our administrative court for zoning violation cases. His case was heard before the hearing officer Nov. 12, he went to the administrative hearing officer for that zoning violation for failure to maintain the water in the lake.”
Edgelow did not appear at the hearing. As a result, the hearing officer rendered a default judgment in favor of Yavapai County and set a date of Monday, Jan. 20, for the pond to be refilled. If the lake is not refilled by that date, Edgelow will be liable for a civil penalty of $10,000.
“He can plead his case, but that lake needs to be filled back up,” Gregory said.
Gregory said that Edgelow has appealed the decision to the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors but a hearing date has not yet been scheduled.
“He can’t present any new evidence because he didn’t show up at the hearing,” Gregory said. “So it ought to be interesting how that turns out.”
Resident Alexi Allens has set up a “peaceful protest on the island in the lake asking for a Christmas miracle so our water will be returned.” The display is complete with holiday ornaments, small Christmas trees, poinsettia and a banner reading, “Merry Christmas. Where is My Lake?”
“The foundation in my home has been cracked from the contraction of the soil,” Rimrock resident Julie Ulatowski said. “I’ve already spent over $12,000 fixing what I can, and there are no guarantees it won’t crack again. I couldn’t even sell my home at this point.”
Dye said that he could not confirm reports of nearby residents’ property being damaged because of the lake being empty.
“[There] was a peaceful ambience, and the community’s heart has really been broken seeing the damages,” Allens said.
“We’re taking it very seriously, and we definitely want to see the lake refilled as much as the residents do,” Dye said. “It’s entirely the responsibility of the property owner to bring himself into compliance, to keep the lake filled.”
