Mary Godwin, Prescott-Nevada County’s Economic Development Director told the council that Cobblestone’s “little niche in the hotel market is they look for towns that are smaller, that can't attract big, big hotels to come to the area, so they only service and look for communities that they think have an opportunity to get a smaller hotel. They actually have 175 hotels in 29 different states.”
Godwin said the company is not interested in locating in the Prescott downtown area but is instead interested in sites near I-30. The $18,000 feasibility study would look into whether a hotel located in Prescott would be profitable enough to be worth Cobblestone’s investment. “If the numbers are not looking very good, then they go ahead and call and say, ‘Hey, your numbers are not looking very good, so we're going to stop it, and you only pay about 50 percent of that,” Godwin said.
A past Economic Development Director in Prescott, John Chadwell, who eventually held the same position in Newport, where a Cobblestone Hotel has been built, said the hotel has done well there. “He said, ‘We really don't have any issues. It's a huge asset to our community.’ And he was talking about the feasibility study, and they had to do one as well, and of course, that would be our property. He said, even if that shows that this company doesn't think you have enough business here, you could still use that feasibility study to try to market and recruit someone else,” Godwin told the council.
Though in the past hotels that have expressed interest in Prescott have decided against locating there, Godwin said, she believed this time may be different because of the new Love’s store but I-30 being nearby is the major draw. She also mentioned the two large wedding venues in Prescott, The Barn at Willow Oak Acres and A Venue for You. Guests often have to drive back and forth to hotels in Hope. Sporting events and the Prescott Raceway.
Godwin asked the council to consider whether to purchase the study, saying funding for it could be found in sales tax revenues.
Council members said the hotel could also be useful when family reunions take place in the area. Godwin’s answer to a council member’s question that the hotel could create about ten to 15 new jobs was also greeted with approving nods.
Councilman Howard Austin made the motion to allow Mayor Terry Oliver to sign an agreement to start the study. A vote taken on whether to approve the expenditure of $18,000 for the study passed unanimously.
The council also voted unanimously in favor of applying for a grant for work on Wildcat Road for up to $500,000 after Godwin asked for the council’s input on what locations in Prescott which need work should be prioritized.
Sergeant Jeremy Hubbard of the Prescott Police presented more information about the department’s research on possibilities to replace police vehicles in disrepair and specific recommendations on what kinds of outfitting for those vehicles is needed. During discussion City Accountant Carl Dalrymple recommended the council begin a five-year cycle of buying one new police vehicle each year, then replacing each vehicle at the end of five years of use. The council agreed to give the topic to the city council’s budget committee, which will meet Thursday morning to consider the matter and then present that recommendation in a special meeting of the city council soon after.
Hubbard also requested the replacement of tasers at a cost of about $26,000, $5,000 of which would be covered by the Eighth District North Prosecutor’s Office. This will also be considered in the budget committee meeting Thursday.
Pastor Brad Glass asked that the city consider Park Baptist Church’s bid of $18,000 to buy city-owned land located near the church. Council members said the lowest amount that could be taken for the land was $23,000 after a recent appraisal of the land reassessed it. After the meeting, Mayor Oliver revealed the land had been valued at $30,000, about $10,000 more than its appraisal in 2019. Council members Howard Austin and Ivory Curry said they were required by state law to only sell city land for a certain amount close to its appraised value.
Glass said he would return to his church board and tell them what the council had said.
The meeting adjourned after about an hour and twenty minutes.
Above photo: Brad Glass of Park Baptist Church speaks to the Prescott City Council about a potential purchase by the church of city owned land.
