As the old saying goes, “If you build it, they will come.” But not in all cases. 

A year and a half ago the Posse Grounds Pavilion at the Barbara Antonsen Memorial Park, a part of Posse Grounds Park, was first used for a public event after more than a decade of planning and fundraising. Since then, however, use has not been what city leaders had hoped for. 

Last March city staff was given direction by council to make recommendations for changes to the Posse Grounds Operations Plan that would enhance the rentability of the facility. 

A city report states that presently, the pavilion is being run under the restrictions outlined in the Conditional Use Permit approved by the Sedona Planning and Zoning Commission in 2007 and additional operating guidelines outlined in the Posse Grounds Park Operations Plan. 

During the Tuesday, Jan. 8, Sedona City Council meeting, Parks and Recreation Manager Rachel Murdoch updated them on the proposed changes to the park to increase its usage. No official action was taken but instead, council gave Murdoch direction during the two-hour discussion. 

She said since July 1, the pavilion has been rented 47 days by 16 different applicants. 

This does not include the city-run fall concert series. Council gave direction for the following changes, which were recommended by city staff and a citizen work group:

• Outdoor facilities are available during normal park hours — dawn until 10 p.m. This means that the pavilion, previously a day-use only facility, could now be rented until 10 p.m. like everything else in the park. As with all rentals, the appropriateness of an event will be considered during the rental process by Murdoch. She said the work group generally supports this idea and that the hours are not necessarily the problem but rather the noise. 
• To better streamline the rental process, staff agreed that parks and recreation would handle the complete event rental process when it takes place on park property, including temporary use permits. 
• This facility was designed for a 300-person audience experience. Events that will exceed the 300-person maximum will be considered for appropriateness by Murdoch. An event whose focus is people sitting on the grass and watching the stage the entire time would still be encouraged to maintain a 300-person limit for optimum participant experience. However, events that include vendors, walking around and in-and-out pedestrian traffic will be allowed to exceed the 300-person limit. An increase would not violate any occupant load per Sedona Fire District Fire Marshal Jon Davis, who said 608 chairs would be permitted in the pavilion’s center seating area. Murdoch said there was no consensus among the members of the work group on this matter. Some don’t want to encourage larger events to use the venue while others believe the current limit is not practical and the city should allow for different capacities for festival seating opposed to chairs. 
• Amplified sound for events will now be allowed from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The ending time used to change seasonally and did not accommodate the annual events that use the park. Instead of needing the event promoters to seek a waiver, the city is changing the ending time to be constant. She said the work group would like to encourage events with amplified sound to take place at the pavilion if they can fit. 

A fifth issue that was addressed was the use of alcohol throughout the entire park. Council would like to be given multiple options on operations if staff was to make the alcohol policy more lenient for private parties and department hosted events. 

That issue will come before council at a later date. “While we appreciate the extended hours for sound and operations at the pavilion, we will continue to review each rental request thoroughly to ensure it’s appropriate for this facility,” Murdoch said following the meeting. Some on Council, including Councilman John Currivan, expressed concern that by changing these rules — specifically at the pavilion after 18 months of use — it may appear the city is reneging on its agreement with residents in the area regarding noise, traffic and parking.

“There was a lot of discussion with people in the neighborhoods, compromises made and they agreed to withdraw their objections with the understanding that there would be strict rules and so forth,” he said. 

“I don’t want us to be viewed as pulling a bait and switch here where we said at one point, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to limit the hours, we’re not going to allow alcohol, there will be no amplification’ and now a couple years go by an all of a sudden we say, ‘We think we can change all those rules.’” 

To that Murdoch said, “We’re changing the rules on them. It’s not an opinion, it’s a fact. I can keep operating this facility under the rules that we gave them and we’ll try and do the best we can. I was just asked [by council] how usage could be increased.” 

City Manager Justin Clifton added that with 18 months of pavilion use under their belts, the city now has a better idea of issues like sound and parking. 

“We knew what the concerns were but we didn’t know how effective the facility would be at mitigating those concerns,” he said, noting that if the pavilion’s operating hours don’t change, bands will be forced to use other parts of the park that don’t have sound-mitigating barriers.

“Whether or not we made a deal, switched and decided to creep or whether we’ve taken a very slow and deliberate approach to adding programs but always checking in with neighbors to mitigate noise — I don’t know what the appropriate framing is and I’ll leave that to the eye of the beholder,” he said. “But, we’re not asking to blow this thing up.”