As a way to honor one of the area’s founding families — and to cut down on confusion — the city will soon give a new Uptown road a new name.
The Sedona City Council unanimously approved a name change of a portion of Schnebly Road to Owenby Way on July 14.
The city’s engineering supervisor Stephen Craver made a report to council, saying the primary reason staff recommended changing the name is it would improve safety. When considering the existing Schnebly Hill Road Roundabout on State Route 179, Craver said having two prominent intersections with very similar names would result in a high potential for misdirection.
He said the city believes the segment that connects to the northern roundabout in Uptown should be renamed. The renamed portion will extend from the northern roundabout on SR 89A to the intersection of Mountain View. The rest of the road from Mountain View, west to Jordan, and beyond to its terminus at East Ridge Road will remain Schenbly Road.
“The name change was a result of trying to avoid the high likelihood of confusion for both emergency services and the traveling public — if there were to be two ‘Schnebly’ roundabouts,” Craver said.
The report stated that while roundabouts have lower severity of accidents, they also typically have more minor accidents than other types of intersections. Considering this roundabout will be the north turnaround point for Uptown and the potential for development adjacent to the roundabout, the city anticipates a significant volume of traffic using this intersection.
The initial name change proposal was for Heritage Way. However, the Sedona Fire District was opposed to that name to avoid confusion with emergency calls on Heritage Circle, which is located in the Village of Oak Creek.
In a letter to the city from Janeen Trevillyan, president of the Sedona Historical Society board, she explained the importance of the Owenby family to the early days of Sedona.
She wrote that Frank and Nancy Owenby, cattle owners from Texas, came to the area in 1910. Upon arrival they homesteaded on 80 acres where Los Abrigados and Tlaquepaque are today. After getting their deed, they sold a portion to T.C. and Sedona Schnebly, who would become the city’s namesake.
Entitled to 160 acres, the Owenby’s second homestead included a large portion of what is now Uptown. This included both sides of today’s SR 89A, including all of water tank hill, the city’s municipal parking lot, all of the Sedona Arts Center area and a piece of land across the creek.
“Their homestead included where the northern roundabout is located,” Trevillyan wrote. “When they got the deed to that homestead, they sold. After that the property went through a couple hands including a Purtymun descendant, and it ended up in the hands of George Jordan.”
One of the important improvements the Owenbys made to both their homesteads, Trevillyan wrote, were irrigation ditches. The first Owenby irrigation ditch is still active from L’Auberge through Los Abrigados and all the way through the neighborhoods south until it goes back into Oak Creek. The second Owenby ditch is still somewhat active. It runs through parcels on Purtymun Lane, and adjacent to the northern roundabout in Uptown. There is another piece of this ditch visible on the Arroyo Roble Resort property.
“While other Sedona pioneer families are commemorated in the names of places and roads, this would be the first in honor of the Owenbys, who hold a special place in Sedona history, and the roundabout and road are on a piece of their old homestead,” Trevillyan wrote.
