What are future housing plans for the Verde Campus now that the little trailer park is full? Did planners even have future plans in mind when they began project?
Robert Oliphant, Editor
OPINION: The modest 10-space trailer park on the Verde Campus is at full capacity for fall 2024. According to rental information from Yavapai Community College, a waitlist for January 2025 is already forming.
This trailer park wasn’t even a part of the Master Plan discussed in concept and approved back in November 2022, which means there are no past or future plans for it in the College’s blueprint. Moreover, the Governing Board has seemingly sidelined or completely eliminated the $9 million initially approved in concept for Verde Valley Campus housing. Instead, it appears this money has been redirected to cover the cost of a 41-acre camp purchased in May 2024 for Prescott, another project absent from the Master Plan approved in concept in November 2022..
Once again, Sedona and the Verde Valley find themselves at the losing end of the deal. If the popularity of this small trailer park experiment proves anything, it’s the evident need for on-campus student housing—much like the comprehensive facilities suggested in the November 2022 Master Plan approved in concept.
However, the failure of the Cottonwood apartment project, poor planning as related to the desert trailer park, and the apparent necessity to divert Sedona/Verde Valley property taxes to fund the rapid expansion on the Prescott side of Mingus Mountain, suggest that the long-overdue housing development for the Verde Valley will once again be ignored by the Prescott Community College powerful.
This situation highlights a concerning pattern: the critical needs of Sedona and the Verde Valley are consistently ignored, despite clear evidence and pressing demands.