In the News

After two days of discussion on June 14 and 15, the Sedona City Council decided to increase the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2024 from an estimated $84.5 million to an estimated $85,653,790.

New Gated Community

The city’s new director of Public Works, Kurt Harris, revealed that the city is considering closing the public Back o’ Beyond Road to non-resident traffic.

“We’re tracking all of the pedestrians and bicyclists that are going in there to use for that [federal] grant application, and that’s to try to look at a whole concept of how to remove bicyclists and pedestrians from that whole road,” Harris said. He suggested the possibility of building a segregated path or access for non-resident foot and cycle traffic. “There’s also another project we’re trying to do, is put an automatic gate there … make it safe and easier for the residents to get in and out.”

“That’d be great,” Mayor Scott Jablow said.

Councilman Brian Fultz referred to an alternate proposal to eliminate trailhead access to Cathedral Rock from Back o’ Beyond completely as “brilliant.”

“It’s our appetite to push hard on the [U.S.] Forest Service to play ball,” Fultz said.

New deputy city manager Andy Dickey noted that while the city has tried to get the Forest Service to close that trailhead multiple times, “it’s a nonstarter with them.”

Housing & STRs

Vice Mayor Holli Ploog commented that contractors and homebuilders have complained to her that the city’s building codes add prohibitive costs to new home construction projects.

“Those people say that, but they never quantify or identify what specific things they’re talking about,” City Manager Karen Osburn said. “If those people would like to give us the list and the associated cost … produce it, and we’ll respond to it … No one’s been able to produce the list.”

“A lot of these things — they might add to the cost of housing, but they’re adding a very minimal percentage to the cost of a house that’s already a million dollars,” housing manager Shannon Boone said.

When asked by Councilwoman Jessica Williamson how much funding it would be “prudent” to allocate to housing in the coming fiscal year, Boone proposed $12 million for four projects.

“I would be perfectly delighted to be in the position of your needing more money in order to get some housing built,” Williamson told Boone.

“This just feels like all of a sudden we’re going to be the biggest landlord in town. Or we’re going to be the money behind the landlord,” Councilman Brian Fultz said.

“I’m not sure that we as a city yet have done everything that we can to … encourage low square-footage, market-rate multi-family housing in town,” Councilman Pete Furman said.

“The only thing holding us up is the financing,” Jablow said. “Enough has been done for market rate.”

“Even those are very difficult to build,” Boone said. “I’m talking to developers who want to build something like that, and they still need subsidies.”

Osburn said that the Sunset Lofts project “is our fastest opportunity to actually get units built.” The development is currently in limbo while awaiting [U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] financing; the city will likely need to contribute another $2 million to the project, bringing the per-unit cost to over $317,000.

Boone estimated the per-unit subsidy for city housing projects currently underway as $80,000 per unit.

The city’s short-term rental specialist Teresah Arthur informed council that compliance with the city’s STR permitting program is at 95%, with 1,092 permitted properties out of 1,105 reported listing. “We seem to have stabilized,” Arthur said, adding that there have been fewer than 10 neighbor complaints so far about STR owners failing to notify adjacent residents about their properties’ status.

“I’m surrounded by them, and I’ve only seen one notification,” Furman said.

On the Road Again

The council was in favor of spending $64,500 to install TVs in the trailhead shuttles, which Transit Administrator Robert Weber said “would be a good way to convey whatever messaging we wanted to convey” to “a captive audience of 300,000 people a year.”

Sedona Cultural Park

City staff are planning to put out an RFP for a consultant to advise on the master planning of the Sedona Cultural Park in September, with the master planning to begin in January 2024.

When Jablow mentioned the ongoing public interest in restoring the event venue as well as possibly constructing housing on the site, Osburn said, “Those two uses are completely incompatible … The community’s going to tell us, but in terms of having both of those things exist, I don’t think that’s an option.”

Osburn did not explain why she declared those uses to be incompatible.

In the meantime, the city has been in discussion about using the park as a car camping site for local workers via the Verde Valley Homeless Coalition, which would cost around $400,000 in management expenses and supplying portable toilets and showers.

“One of the things I really like about this is it would enable us to count this population [of car workers],” Boone said.

Going to the Dogs

Council spent 44 minutes discussing a $55,320 line item to install shade structures and grass at the Sedona Dog Park at Posse Grounds Park before eventually deciding to leave the item in the budget and possibly reconsider it at a later date.

When the city council approved the dog park in January 2004, its construction and operation was supposed to be funded by Sedona Dog Park Inc., a private nonprofit organization.

Ploog and Councilwoman Kinsella argued that as the council had already agreed to test a partial grass surface at the dog park provided water use could be reduced, it was necessary to proceed with the installation.

“I don’t want something that looks like we’re reneging on a promise,” Kinsella said.

“The decrease in the water usage is green-washing. It’s whacking the mole,” Williamson commented.

“The Yappy Hour folks are very set on the grass,” Parks & Recreation Manager Josh Frewin said, adding that conversely, parents dropping their kids off at soccer games were not happy to see dogs urinating on the field where their kids were about to play.

“Parking is a huge issue,” Frewin admitted in response to a question by Councilwoman Melissa Dunn about the available parking for expanded events at Posse Grounds. The city has in recent years eliminated approximately 300 nearby parking spaces by closing Soldier Pass Road to parking.

Departures

The exodus of city staff appears to have intensified over the last six months. Human Resources Manager Brenda Tammarine informed the council that from July 2022 through June 15, 2023, 51 out of 165 city employees left, a turnover rate of 31%. Thirty-four of these positions were full-time and 17 were part-time. The turnover rate for the previous fiscal year was 22%.

However, Tammarine noted, while the city is having trouble finding “highly qualified candidates” for management positions, it recently received 15 applications for a janitor’s position within a 14-hour period.

City finance director Cherie White said that she anticipates another 15 retirements over the next five years. Code Enforcement Officer Brian Armstrong will be retiring shortly, followed by Tammarine herself, most likely in the first week of January 2024.

Osburn will leave the city in the spring of 2024.

“I am eligible to retire next year. I am hoping to do so in the spring-ish timeframe,” Osburn said, adding that recruitment for her replacement will begin “end of August, beginning of September.”

In addition to keeping up with turnover and replacing the city manager, the city will be looking to hire a second deputy city manager as well as two tourism coordinators and a tourism manager.

“I do ponder a question about whether we should pursue an independent analysis of employee satisfaction somehow, if there isn’t something we’re missing,” Furman said.

“I remember a parks and rec director, couple of them, who just said, ‘I can’t deal with this anymore,’ and I don’t think other communities have that,” Williamson said. “The stress of having to deal with as much public scrutiny, anger, lashing out at our staff — it’s going to have an effect on them.”

Osburn said the city was “struggling” with “how to preserve the sanity of our staff.”

Fultz queried the city’s financial commitment to recruiting.

“You’re only going to spend $50,000 on recruitment and relocation in a year? OK. That’s not much,” Fultz said.

City council offers to fund 80% of Visitor Center – Sedona Red Rock News

The Sedona City Council voted Tuesday, June 13, to offer to fund 80% of the operational costs for the Sedona Chamber of Commerce’s Uptown Visitor Center for the coming fiscal year.

Following the chamber’s April decision not to pursue an extension of its tourism marketing contract with the city, the chamber “determined we are unable to fund the Visitor Center,” chamber President and CEO Michelle Conway told the council. The chamber offered to continue running the Visitor Center under contract to the city for $530,000, or alternatively to rent the building to the city for city staff to operate. If the city did not choose to pursue either of these options, Conway told the council, the Visitor Center would close in August.

City staff recommended against council approval on the grounds that “the Visitor Center may not be delivering services commensurate with the cost of operations” and suggested that if the council did want to provide Visitor Center funding, it should be limited to 80% of the center’s direct costs.

“Why is it important to you that it stay open?” Councilwoman Melissa Dunn asked Conway.

“It’s an institution,” Conway said, comparing the Visitor Center to the Sedona Public Library or the Humane Society of Sedona. She added that the center “evokes civic pride” and “sets the stage for how Sedona is perceived” as well as helping visitors understand “the potential dangers of hiking.”

Councilman Brian Fultz wanted an update on the chamber’s financial health.

“You clearly stated that you were intending to operate the Visitor Center,” Fultz said. “Now you’re saying, ‘well, we don’t think we can do that.’ What is it overall that you are going to be able to do in the fiscal year? … What committed budget do you have?”

“We’re talking today about the Visitor Center,” Conway said, before adding, “Not even the first quarter.”

“I’m trying to understand whether we really need to fund this or whether you could fund this,” Fultz continued.

“We cannot fund the Visitor Center. Period,” Conway said.

“Out of respect to the city and the years of partnership we’ve had together, we wanted to provide the city with the first opportunity to continue the operations of the Visitor Center,” elaborated Jennifer Perry, chairwoman of the chamber’s board of directors.

“I’m not getting my question answered when the day is done and it sounds like you’re unwilling to answer it, so I yield,” Fultz said.

Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella was interested in obtaining the chamber’s list of volunteers and their contact information.

“If funding doesn’t come through and you close the doors Aug. 1, what happens to the volunteer list?” Kinsella asked.

“If you would like it, we could talk about it, but that’s the intellectual property of the Sedona Chamber of Commerce,” Conway replied.

If the city were to rent the building only, Kinsella continued, “would the volunteer list be a part of that?”

“It would be up for discussion,” Perry said, but added that the volunteers would have to agree to the chamber sharing their information publicly with the city.

During the public comment period, former Vice Mayor John Martinez told council that he had asked some of the Visitor Center volunteers if they would be interested in volunteering for the city if it were to take over the Visitor Center, and they had told him they would not.

Vice Mayor Holli Ploog queried the chamber’s inclusion of an administrative overhead fee in its Visitor Center budget and its proposed retention of some Visitor Center revenues.

“If we’re paying 100% of the cost of the Visitor Center, why should you earn revenue from it?” Ploog asked.

“This is a business, and we’ve been passing through services for years,” Perry said. “That’s not good business.”

“I really agree with you. I don’t think that was a smart thing to do. But now we’re renting the whole thing,” Ploog said. “It’s a rub.”

“It’s not business sense to do work just to do work,” Perry said. “If we are to run it, the board feels strongly we should be running it with best practices of business.”

Councilwoman Jessica Williamson described funding the center’s operation as a question of “government’s role in a community.”

“Government’s role is to support businesses. That doesn’t necessarily return one-for-one on the dollar,” Williamson said. “To manage tourists, I think that’s worth money … I think that’s really an important role of government … It serves residents. That’s another thing government does … The Visitor Center provides a very, very good return on our money when you look at what government’s role is.”

As for the Visitor Center’s public restrooms, Williamson characterized them as “incredible value for the dollar.”

Williamson further drew a contrast between the council’s previous enthusiasm for a fee-for-service model and its ambivalence toward the proposed contract.

“I also want to look back at the meeting that we had, where Pete [Furman] was the only one who wasn’t saying, ‘Yeah, fee-forservice is great, we love fee-for-service,’” Williamson said. “That’s what we were supposed to have. Every single other person on the council, including me, was a fee-for-service person, and this is fee-for-service. They did exactly what we told them we wanted them to do.”

She suggested approving the contract for the coming year and pursuing a rebuilt partnership with the chamber in the meantime.

“I don’t think this serves a huge number of people,” Dunn said. “I think it serves a very niche market.”

Councilman Pete Furman said that the Visitor Center offered “some value,” but that it was wasting time to discuss what should be “more of a partnership model.”

“I’m not comfortable with an 80-20 split,” Furman added, noting that among the service provider contracts the council had awarded earlier at the same meeting, “nobody is even over 60%” for city funding. However, he said he would agree to 80% funding for one year in a spirit of partnership.

“I don’t think 100% funding,” Kinsella said. “I can’t entertain it if there’s not a cost-share model … I think 80-20 was well thought out.”

“This should be a cost-sharing arrangement,” Fultz said. “I probably can live with 80-20.”

“I don’t see the Visitor Center has to make money,” Mayor Scott Jablow said. “I agree a cost-share would be better.”

Dunn said she would be “amenable” to a cost-sharing arrangement, while Williamson commented, “100% would fail, and I would rather have a Visitor Center.”

Following the emergence of consensus on providing the chamber with 80% of its requested funding, the council voted unanimously to offer the chamber a Visitor Center contract at $368,800. The contract will need to go before the chamber’s board for final approval, which will take place at the board’s next meeting on Thursday, June 22. Perry noted that “there are other things the board is evaluating for that property.”

Revote after the break*

Council returned to reconsider the contract after a brief recess on the grounds that the approved sum of $368,800, which had been calculated by city staff on a cost-sharing basis, represented 80% of the Visitor Center’s operating costs, not 80% of the chamber’s proposed budget, which would have included the chamber’s administrative costs for $424,000.

Kinsella and Furman said they had voted for the city manager’s proposal based on direct costs excluding the chamber’s fee, while Ploog said she had thought the proposal was for 80% of the chamber’s requested budget. Williamson argued the chamber was entitled to a fee for its services under a fee-for-service model.

Furman and Dunn called the reconsideration “a last-minute negotiation from the dais.”

The reconsideration passed 4-3, with Furman, Kinsella and Dunn in opposition, with the chamber’s contract amount being raised to $424,000.

• * Details of the council’s reconsideration and increase of the chamber’s award were not included in the print version of this story as they occurred after the second recess.

SEDONA — The familiar sight of off-highway vehicles traveling through the streets of Sedona could soon be a thing of the past thanks to an ordinance proposed by city council.

The ordinance would require all motor vehicles driving on paved public roadways to comply with certain vehicle safety standards, which the city argues nearly all OHVs do not meet. 

If passed, the ordinance would make it illegal to drive a motor vehicle that is unsafe, does not include proper safety equipment or that is not approved by the manufacturer to be operated on paved or public roads within the city of Sedona.

Notably, as it is written now, there is currently an exemption for city employees under the ordinance, intended to allow the fire department to continue using their fleet of UTVs on calls for service across town.

The backbone of the ordinance relies on the fact that OHV manufacturers themselves explicitly state in their owners manuals that the vehicles are not designed for travel on paved roads of any kind.

Further, the tires that equip these vehicles do not meet Department of Transportation requirements for travel on streets and highways. 

Additional safety concerns were raised by city leaders as OHVs often lack other safety equipment designed to keep drivers of traditional vehicles safe including airbags, anti-lock brakes, crumple zones, stability control, bumpers and turn signals. 

“What is a fact is that there are six manufacturers that all say these vehicles do not belong on paved roads and that’s an indisputable fact,” Councilor Brian Fultz said. 

“Now that I know that, I can’t un-know that,” he said. 

Fultz also made a point to emphasize twice that Polaris, one of the most popular manufacturers of OHVs, does not oppose the basis for this ordinance. Instead, they are just concerned about the continued economic viability of the local industry, a sentiment shared by many of the speakers and a majority of those on council.

Futlz said it was the city council’s responsibility to take preemptive action to protect drivers who may or may not be aware of the inherent dangers of these vehicles. 

“I do believe that when a manufacturer says it’s not safe to do something, there’s a Darwinian principle involved when you do it anyway,” echoed Councilor Melissa Dunn. 

Mayor Scott Jablow said that while he understood the concerns from the community, safety should remain the priority. Moreover, he said just because there hasn’t been a deadly OHV accident in Sedona yet doesn’t mean they should wait until there is one to act.

“All we’re doing is keeping people safe,” Jablow said. “And it could be you, it could your wife, your spouse, your child, you don’t know.”

When presenting the ordinance, the city referred to the U.S. Consumer and Product Safety Commission that reports an average of more than 700 deaths per year involving OHVs. According to the Commission’s most recent annual report, there were 2,178 deaths associated with OHVs from 2017 to 2019, the most recent year with complete data. 

Councilors, residents concerned about unintended consequences

Much of the night’s conversations revolved around limiting the potential unintended consequences if this ordinance were to go into effect. Speakers both in support of and opposed to the ordinance expressed various concerns that could potentially arise as a result of this legislation.

If OHVs are prohibited from paved roadways, they would need to be taken to trailheads on large trailers, which many people pointed out could end up being more disruptive than the already-crowded parking situation that currently exists in many popular areas. 

Additionally, countless speakers connected to the OHV industry expressed worries that the restrictions will have a significant negative impact economically on local rental businesses and their employees.

More on the red rocks:Best Sedona restaurants in 2023 have views and food to savor. Here’s what to order

City leaders shared some of these concerns and reaffirmed their commitment to support the industry through a potential transition. 

“I don’t believe a city council should be in the business of putting businesses out of business,” Fultz said.

Multiple councilors expressed their general support for the ordinance but there needs to be more research into the potential impacts before they can vote. 

“We have two things to do: keep you in business, and I mean that, but keep our residents and the traveling public safe as well,” Jablow said.

Other popular off-road destinations have passed similar restrictions

Sedona is not the first tourism destination that has had to tackle the issue of OHVs on public roadways.

Just this March, trade groups sponsored by OHV manufacturers sent a letter to the Oregon legislature opposing a proposed bill that would have made OHVs and ATVs street legal in the state, stating they are not safe for highway use. 

Nearby in New Mexico, it is illegal to operate an OHV on paved roads or highways except as allowed by local authority or the state transportation commission.

Meanwhile, Montana requires any OHVs to be modified to be street legal before they can drive on public paved roadways, which could include adding a functioning headlamp, stop lamp, brakes, electric horn, rearview mirror, exhaust muffler and spark arrestor. 

These states, councilors pointed out, have still been able to maintain successful off-road industries.

“It’s about changing a business model,” Vice Mayor Holli Ploog said.

Conservative think tank questions ordinance legality

The day before the meeting, Adam Shelton, a lawyer with The Goldwater Institute, wrote a letter to the city questioning the legality of the ordinance under state law. 

Many residents who spoke against the proposal specifically referenced the letter and the potential for legal action if the ordinance is eventually passed.

“We believe that the proposed ordinance is likely preempted by state law, which allows OHVs to be legally driven on streets and highways so long as they are outfitted with equipment prescribed by state statute,” Shelton wrote. 

This does not clearly conflict with the Sedona ordinance as written, which essentially just requires all vehicles on public roadways to be approved for highway use — which appears to also be the intention of the state law.

More on tourism:Sedona takes charge of tourism promotion after split with chamber of commerce

During the meeting, Sedona City Attorney Kurt Christianson presented multiple statutes under Arizona law that he said gives local municipalities the authority to institute restrictions of this kind.

“We are not in the business of passing illegal ordinances,” Ploog added. 

The Goldwater Institute is a conservative and libertarian public policy think tank located in Phoenix whose stated mission is “to defend and strengthen the freedom guaranteed to all Americans in the constitutions of the United States and all fifty states.”

Referencing the claims outlined in the letter, councilor Pete Furman pointed out that the group hasn’t always been the best judge of what’s best for Sedona.

“I might remind all of us that the Goldwater Institute and the Arizona state legislature didn’t think short-term rentals would be harmful in any way either,” Furman said.

Sedona has been trying to solve OHV problems for years

The city has been trying to mitigate the impacts of the OHV industry for nearly a decade with very little tangible solutions to show for it. Residents have long complained about the dust and noise created by these vehicles, which have skyrocketed in popularity over the past decade. 

Many of those who spoke against the ordinance alleged that this was a roundabout way for the city to ban OHVs altogether, which the City Council pushed back on. 

While the city considers this ordinance, there is still a separate and extensive effort underway to develop solutions with various stakeholders around the issue. 

The Greater Sedona Recreation Collaborative started working last year as a collection of community representatives that reflect the wide array of perspectives on this topic. But councilors expressed frustration with the group’s timeline and their focus on solutions that have already been around for years, like reducing OHV volume or modifying mufflers to reduce noise.

“At some point in time we have to say, ‘Do something’ and I’m not seeing anything new being done,” Jablow said.

Group facilitator Jessica Archibald acknowledged that while a multi-year timeline might not be ideal, ensuring the success of this project requires the building of trust between all opposing sides — something that simply cannot happen overnight. 

“This is an incredibly complicated issue,” Archibald said. “There’s a reason this has taken nine years.” 

Reach the reporter at LLatch@gannett.com.

The Republic’s coverage of northern Arizona is funded, in part, with grants from Vitalyst Health Foundation and Report from America. To support regional Arizona news coverage like this, make a tax-deductible donation at supportjournalism.azcentral.com.

Council votes to form tourism board, emulate Thelma & Louise – Sedona Red Rock News

The Sedona City Council voted 6-1 in favor of the creation of a tourism advisory board to rubber-stamp city staff’s policy decisions regarding tourism at its May 10 meeting. Councilman Pete Furman was the lone dissenting voice.

As proposed by staff, the board would consist of 11 members serving staggered four-year terms, representing businesses, environmental groups, residents and other interest areas. The board’s functions could possibly include developing a strategic plan for tourism management.

Heather Hermen of Front Burner Media, whom the city has engaged as a consultant, suggested members of the board could both make recommendations on policy and act as spokespeople to the community.

The proposal to establish a board with fixed membership was written by City Manager Karen Osburn. It contrasts with the council’s expressed desire to explore the tourism strategies of other local municipalities such as Cottonwood, which, Hermen explained, has an advisory board “open to anyone in tourism who contributes to the tax base in Cottonwood to participate.”

Osburn explained afterward that the choice of a limited board with limited public comment periods was intended to provide “continuity in membership from individuals who commit to multi-year appointments and are invested in being there over time” as well as “ensuring broad diversity in representation, perspectives and opinions.”

‘A Strong Hand’

“Their work program, their agendas, the information that they receive and respond to are all provided by staff,” Osburn said of how city commissions and boards operate, the new TAB included. City staff “will to some extent manage the work and manage the group.”

“They’re not going to likely be having budget appropriation authority,” Osburn added, noting that the board’s suggestions may be used to inform staff proposals but will not be binding.

“I really want the city to be very strongly involved in managing the tourism program,” Councilwoman Jessica Williamson said. “I want the city to have a strong hand in this. I don’t want it to sort of become a thing in itself.”

The draft application for advisory board membership that council reviewed during the meeting listed 11 background questions for potential applicants. The questions would solicit applicants’ views on the effects of tourism “both positive and negative,” the major issues facing the city and board, the highest priorities for the city’s tourism management program, the city’s role in supporting businesses and the importance of branding and marketing.

“This is more questions than the other commissions we interview for, so this is really good,” Mayor Scott Jablow said.

Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella suggested adding a question on whether applicants have read the Sustainable Tourism Plan and Community Plan.

City Communications Manager Lauren Browne said the questions “will help make sure the most balanced of perspectives are chosen to participate on this group rather than not picking candidates because they lean one way or another. The whole point is to choose people who represent all sides of tourism including pro, neutral and against.”

Council agreed after discussion that applications will be vetted in executive session to eliminate unqualified candidates, to be followed by interviews with the remaining candidates in public. The final vote on candidates will take place in executive session.

Vacancies will be filled by a vote of the full council, in a departure from the usual procedure for filling vacancies on other boards, which are determined by a vote of the mayor, vice mayor and board president.

Vice Mayor Holli Ploog and Councilman Brian Fultz both referred to the three-person appointment procedure as “rubber stamping.”

‘Way Too Fast’

Furman objected to the entire proposal and expressed a lack of confidence in the advisory board’s ability to focus on developing ideas instead of self-perpetuation.

“Little damage will be done by us not making these decisions yet today,” Furman said. “Everyone knows the metaphor about the horse and the cart. It seems to me that we’re asking the horse to design the cart. You got to know, when you ask a horse to design the cart, they’re going to design a cart that’s meant to be pulled by anything other than horses.”

If council approved the board, Furman warned, it would “start on the path of creating one of the largest bureaucracies that we’ll have in the city … any group that’s been so empowered to meet and establish itself as an official group is just going to want to continue its existence and it will limit the potential of ideas that come in.”

Instead, Furman proposed that the city create a five-member work group that would include a council member, the city manager, a member of the community planning work group, a resident and a business representative. The work group would report to council once a month and would produce a final report on what direction the city’s tourism planning should take after six to 12 months. As part of this process, the group would review information on alternate tourism management strategies, including findings from the United Nations World Tourism Organization, the ASU Center for Sustainable Tourism and Jackson Hole, Wyo.’s sustainable tourism management plan, among other sources.

“We’re moving way too fast to create a structure that will be very difficult to alter if we decide a different structure is needed,” Furman advised. “We need much more time and thought about the structure, the mission.”

Although the remaining members of council agreed with Furman’s suggestion that the advisory board consider a wide variety of resources discussing possible tourism solutions, they rejected delays.

“There is the possibility of damage by not moving forward,” Kinsella said. “It allows things to start developing in a way that goes off and running on its own without the benefit of it being managed from the beginning.”

Ploog and Dunn stated that six months would be too long to wait to decide on the city’s next steps.

“This is our ‘Thelma and Louise’ moment as a community,” Dunn said. “We need to join hands and leap and just hope there’s something good at the bottom … We’ll be wrong, we’ll make mistakes and we’ll learn from our mistakes because we never learn from successes.”

“I don’t think we’re moving too fast at all,” Jablow said. “The businesses have not been promoted by us in years. I’ve heard this past year that many of the businesses are hurting … They know that the chamber and the council are divorced. They need to know that we’re going to move forward. Taking months to get up to speed with a five-person board — that’s not giving them confidence. We need to move forward with this plan.”

In its draft tourism management vision, the council stated that its primary goal for tourism management was reducing visitation to 2019 levels at most.

“We as a body are tasked by the public to be thoughtful and financially wise, and to have us all jump off a cliff together is super bad advice,” Furman said.

The council then voted 6-1 to make the jump

Arabella Spa to move forward after 4-3 approval – Sedona Red Rock News

After a lengthy appeal process, the Sedona City Council voted 4-3 to approve a development review for Arabella Spa at its April 25 meeting.

The owners of the Arabella Hotel submitted a conceptual application to construct a spa facility on vacant commercial property adjoining the hotel in June 2021, submitted a development review application in May 2022 and amended the application in September and October 2022. The Planning and Zoning Commission denied the application by a 3-3 vote on Nov. 15, and a reconsideration by city council on Jan. 25 also failed 3-3. Tie votes are denials.

Councilwoman Melissa Dunn, who was absent on Jan. 25, had requested a further reconsideration of the application.

Attorney Benjamin Tate, of Withey Morris, appearing for the applicants, responded to previous concerns about sustainability, pointing out that the spa will add five to six EV charging stations and is committing to eliminate single-use plastic. Tate stated that 72% of existing trees on the lot will be retained or transplanted, that the pool filtration systems will reduce energy consumption by 50% and that the pool covers will reduce evaporation by 95%.

“Most of this site will remain undeveloped,” Tate said. The proposed area of development will occupy only 29% of the property.

In response to a question from Councilman Brian Fultz, Tate explained that the spa will achieve a reduction in water use of between 42% and 71% relative to the Nirvana mixed-use development approved for the site in 2008.

Andrew Baird, of Kimley-Horn consultants, discussed revised traffic projections for the spa facility. By using “more site-specific data” rather than general estimates, the project’s latest traffic study concluded that the spa would likely generate 546 average daily trips, not 1,121 as determined by the applicants’ previous study, which was conducted in August 2022.

Baird also noted that the Arizona Department of Transportation concurred with Kimley-Horn’s findings.

“They do not see this as a significant amount of traffic that will impact the intersection [at State Route 179 and Sombart Lane],” he told council.

‘Meets and Exceeds’

Fultz said that Arizona is a strong property rights state.

“I’m not thrilled about anything that might cause additional traffic on 179, but I don’t think that’s a basis for making a decision on this project,” Fultz said. “This project meets the requirements and has the right to be approved.” He also expressed confidence in the Kimley-Horn traffic analysis given how often the city retains that firm.

“You’re on the track toward what we would like to see,” Dunn commented, noting that her concerns had been addressed. “I think it fits into our community character.”

Councilwoman Jessica Williamson stated that people should be able to expect that they have the right to build on their property. “This project meets and exceeds the city’s requirements, and yet we’re saying that even though it meets and exceeds the city’s requirements, we’re not going to do it anyway,” Williamson said. “I don’t think that’s fair. I don’t think that’s right.”

“We can’t dictate who builds and who doesn’t build,” Mayor Scott Jablow said, adding that approvals have to be decided “on the merits of the project.”

“I did support this project and I still do support this project,” Jablow said.

The applicants also provided letters of support from the Hampton Inn, the Sedona Chamber of Commerce, the Arizona Lodging and Tourism Association and the Sedona International Film Festival.

‘Airy-Fairy’

Vice Mayor Holli Ploog told the council she disapproved of the fact that their rules of procedure allow reconsideration at all before disagreeing with ADOT’s analysis and referring to the revised traffic statistics as “airy-fairy.”

“It doesn’t feel legitimate,” Ploog said.

“New information has not been submitted here even though it’s been alluded to,” Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella said. “I have nothing that addresses the concerns that I stated at the Jan. 25 meeting, which included the traffic analysis is not there.” She also wanted to review the applicant’s correspondence with ADOT.

“I don’t know why we would think it’s a good idea,” Councilman Pete Furman said, arguing that the application did not meet the city’s Land Development Code requirements because of the absence of a proper traffic analysis.

“We are in the height of a historic drought, and to consider a spa at this time, I think, is unconscionable and unacceptable,” neighbor Suzanne Gosar told the council. “It’s fine for the city of Sedona to choose open space. We have very little of it anymore.”

The National Integrated Drought Information System released data on Dec. 29 indicating that Sedona and Yavapai County were no longer experiencing drought conditions.

The city of Sedona occupies approximately 11,700 acres of land, half of which is national forest and open space.

“What they’re proposing sounds beautiful, but … it’s like lipstick on a pig. It’s still a pig. It’s something we do not want in our neighborhood,” Gosar concluded, asking the council to deny the application.

Neighbor Dennis Lewis complained that having to show up to protest the application multiple times “causes me stress and anxiety.” He told the council that he had a “mild fear of retaliation if this doesn’t pass” and that the development would benefit only the project’s owners, not the community, as well as claiming it would attract day trippers.

Williamson’s motion to approve the development review, allowing the project to move forward, passed by a vote of 4-3, with Jablow, Dunn, Fultz and Williamson in favor, and Ploog, Furman and Kinsella against.