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Planning and Zoning Commission approves earth-and-materials processing facility at Thousand Trail site
Summary
On June 15, 2026 the Cottonwood Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved Conditional Use Permit CUP-26003 and Design Review DR26008 to allow an earth-and-materials processing and storage facility at the Thousand Trail site, subject to stipulations including a dust-control permit, fencing and compliance with city design standards.
The Cottonwood Planning and Zoning Commission on June 15 approved Conditional Use Permit CUP-26003 and Design Review DR26008 to allow an earth-and-materials processing and storage facility at the Thousand Trail site in the southern part of the city.
Planner Connor Bammani told the commission the parcel is roughly 20 acres and the operation would occupy about the northern 3 acres. The site sits just south of Wilbur Road near State Route 260 and is zoned I2 (heavy industrial); surrounding parcels are mostly vacant or part of Prescott National Forest. Staff recommended approval with stipulations, including that an ADQ/EDAQ permit for dust control be maintained, all activities stay off city right-of-way, the project conform to the code review board (CRB) comment letter, and that operations be limited to Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.
The proposal calls for a 6-foot chain-link fence with privacy slats around the operations area, a 15-foot landscape yard inside the parcel, employee parking near the Wilbur Road access, a screening plant and a crusher/conveyor assembly (staff noted the crusher structure does not exceed 15 feet in height). Bammani said an ADQ permit and water trucks would be used to mitigate dust during operations.
Applicant Brent Deal described the business as a recycling operation that separates and processes dirt and rock from contracting jobs for reuse by contractors. He said the operation uses water trucks and a large water tank (approximately 5,000 gallons) to run misters on conveyors and crushers and that his other site had inspections without dust-control violations.
Commissioners asked about setbacks, the existing 5-foot barbed-wire perimeter fence (described as a legal nonconforming fence), where privacy slats would be installed and whether crushing would occur on site. Commissioners who spoke—Dez, Kennedy and Rothrock—said the I2 zoning made the location appropriate and raised no substantive objections, although some urged drought-tolerant landscaping and careful dust control.
The chair opened the public hearing; no members of the public signed up to speak. Vice Chairman Camela moved to approve CUP-26-003 based on the staff findings and stipulations; the motion was seconded, called for a voice vote and passed unanimously. The commission then considered the design review. Staff said landscape plant materials must conform to the zoning ordinance; commissioners discussed trees versus rock gardens given hauled water, expressed preferences for drought-tolerant screening, and then moved and seconded approval of DR-26-00008. That motion also passed unanimously.
The approvals are conditioned on conformance with the plans on file, the CRB comment letter and maintenance of the identified permit for dust control. The planning department indicated a zoning clearance application must be pursued within three months of approval as part of the design review stipulations.
