This week small business owners around Sedona were notified by letter that the city of Sedona would be redrafting its temporary sign rules, which were loosened roughly a year ago due to business difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sedona’s sign rules allow businesses to put up temporary signs to advertise that businesses are open, which were needed as many businesses around Sedona had been closed first by the mayor, then by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.
Many of these businesses were allowed to stay open because they’re considered essential under Ducey’s executive orders. In order to advertise their openness adjacent to other businesses that were shuttered, they were permitted by the city of Sedona to display a wide plethora of temporary signs from A frames to banners, to flags, or in the city’s words: “Due to the COVID-related restrictions on businesses, the city of Sedona took steps to stop enforcement of the temporary sign permit regulations to ensure business did not face any undue burden during uncertain times.”
Locally, they also created a certain spirit of unity as residents driving around the half-closed city were eager to help businesses that could stay open.
The mayor of Sedona and then-City Attorney Robert Pickels drafted an emergency order last March 17 that gave the mayor and city management wide powers to impose or change rules around the city in response to COVID-19.
Thus, the loosening of these pandemic restrictions and the repeal of the city’s sign guidelines clearly means that this emergency order will soon end. Surely, city officials will be relinquishing the extraordinary powers imposed a year ago if they are now signaling that emergency coping mechanisms are no longer needed for businesses to survive.
Otherwise, clearly, there is absolutely no reason why the city would change the sign rules. Emergency orders are wrapped around and linked to an actual emergency and not simply a new state of governing permitting officials to ignore the lawmaking process in favor of rule by fiat.
According to the letter, there have been numerous complaints about signs, but the city did not provide a list of those complaints, neither anonymized nor specific, so residents could determine if those offences were fixable, excessive or legitimate, but as we’re all asked to take government officials’ words for these things during a pandemic — we’re in a state of emergency after all — we must take government officials’ words for these things.
No Sedona City Council members nor city staff have contacted us asking us to do a story saying, “you know, these signs are getting a little out of hand.” Should they have contacted us we certainly would have done a story. After all, we’re in the business of selling newspapers and nothing sells newspapers in Sedona more than people complaining about other people.
I don’t remember publishing any letters to the editor about excessive signs. The moderator of the Sedona Sign Complaint Group on Facebook hasn’t accepted my request to join because no such group exists.
As far as we can tell there was no discussion at all among Sedona City Council members to tighten sign rules. One would think that would be a prerequisite for changing rules in a liberal democracy, but considering how city leaders have done many things this year half-cocked or illogically, we can’t really assume that city leadership would have done this one properly even though it affects hundreds of businesses and thousands of workers in the city.
We commend city leadership for preparing to repeal this “state of emergency,” because after a year, an emergency is not an emergency, it’s just how things are now. If a “state of emergency” exists, then by definition it must end. If it’s not ever going to end, then it’s not an emergency, sine qua non. Thus, governments must repeal their “emergency” orders, adapt to what’s changed and return to the legal, lawful, rule-of-law-driven democratic process even if that process means adapting to a post-pandemic world of restrictions, distancing and precautionary procedures.
As it stands now, businesses have until the end of April to reduce their temporary signs down to one, and as of Saturday, May 1, city sign rules — which, again, have never been discussed with City Council members during this entire COVID-19 pandemic — will return back to pre-pandemic norms.
Thus, we can only assume, because logic is still a thing despite the pandemic, the city of Sedona will be repealing the burdensome order sometime between now and April 30. Of course, you, the readers of Sedona’s only local media outlet, will know as soon as we do.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
