The issue of whether the Arizona Department of Transportation will install lights in West Sedona should be decided later this month.
ADOT officials will meet with the Sedona City Council on Wednesday, Feb. 24, to discuss either installing streetlights in West Sedona or giving the highway and the costs associated with it to the city.
Prior to the council meeting, ADOT’s statewide transportation board meets Friday, Feb. 19, in Bisbee, and one item will be whether to fund streetlights in Sedona and whether to put it back in its five-year plan.
At a statewide transportation board workshop in Phoenix Feb. 3, more than 10 Sedona residents attended to give their views on the issue.
The city was represented by Assistant City Manager Alison Zelms, but she did not speak at the meeting.
People on both sides of the issue had different views on the benefits of the workshop.
Resident Doug Blackwell, said his group, which opposes lights in West Sedona, is concerned with highway safety and whether lights are a viable solution.
He said his group presented the board with more than a thousand signatures and more than 100 comments from residents opposing State Route 89A lights.
Blackwell did not like the SR 89A Continuous Roadway Lighting Project title of the ADOT slide show Engineer John Harper presented to its board.
“It’s the safety project,” Blackwell said. “It’s not about the lights.”
Sedona City Councilwoman Pud Colquitt, who also attended the Feb. 3 meeting as a resident, said the issue is clear — allow ADOT to install lights or turn the road back to the city and incur the cost of millions of dollars.
She said turning back is not really an option because ADOT would likely turn over the complete state route in Sedona to the city, and there would be little way to fund it.
Each resident attending the Feb. 3 meeting was given five minutes to speak and
most took advantage of the allotted time.
She said there were nine people at the meeting opposing the lights and another five residents supporting the lighting project.
Colquitt said one reason she attended was to support Harper, who opponents to the lights criticized, saying “false things about him.”
The Feb. 24 council meeting will result in a confirmation vote on the lights and discussion regarding what it would mean to turn the road over to the city, according to Colquitt.
At a recent council candidate forum, eight of the nine people running for office said they did not favor taking over the state route.
Zelms said ADOT officials may tell the city what lights it plans on using for the project at the Feb. 24 council meeting, but added she has no idea what will be discussed at ADOT’s Feb. 19 meeting.
