The Sedona City Council agreed to defer consideration of Mayor Scott Jablow’s proposed OHV ban pending the city’s completion of a voluntary agreement on noise and traffic reduction with four of Sedona’s OHV rental companies during its meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 22.

As summarized by city attorney Kurt Christianson, the four rental companies wrote in a letter that they will commit to installing turn signals on their vehicles, providing customer education on driving on paved roads, governing their vehicles to restrict them to a maximum speed of 35 mph, installing quieter mufflers on their vehicles as available, discouraging the use of Morgan Drive, installing color-coded flags on their vehicles and supporting the city’s efforts to petition the U.S. Forest Service for a permitting system and daily limits for OHV trailheads.

“In a paragraph in the agreement, there’s talk about vehicles monitored by GPS,” Councilman Pete Furman said. “What’s the status of the discussions in the agreement here with our rental companies about whether they are willing to step up and do private enforcement of their private agreements with customers for speed limits?”

“We’ve actually taken the next-step approach that if there’s a rapid braking or there’s a rapid acceleration, it actually sends us a company email instantly,” said Dan Candler of Outback ATV. “For instance, somebody’s at the front desk, they would see this vehicle is now acting erratically. That way, they would take a closer look and they can replay the whole route in real-time of the vehicle … We can reach out to the customer right then and there and find out if something’s wrong with the car, they’re behaving badly, then we can take care of it right away.”

“We do have currently certain penalties for certain things, and one of them is for certain locations that we don’t allow vehicles to go to, and if they go there, then it’s clearly stated in the contract that you will be penalized financially for that,” Candler added. He said that such penalties were rare due to their customer education process.

Permit System

Jablow discussed trying to get the U.S. Forest Service to impose an OHV permitting system to limit access to public trails within the Coconino National Forest. Most OHV trails are outside the city limits.

“The permitting system is key,” Jablow said. “What I really want is that permit system, and they’ve agreed to support that permit system,” referring to the OHV companies.

“Our ultimate goal is to get a permitting system,” Vice Mayor Holli Ploog agreed. “More than two years ago we had a meeting with the Forest Service here and we said we need a permit system.”

“There’s an oversaturation of this use in the forest area, there’s an oversaturation of this use on the city streets of Sedona. A permitting system is the only thing … that is going to limit that,” Councilwoman Kathy Kinsella said. “The industry support for a permitting system, which I’m grateful for, is a big give.”

She described it as “the only hope” of getting the Forest Service to concede to the city’s demand.

“A linchpin to making real progress for the long haul is getting the U.S. Forest Service to act, which they have been woefully slow and unwilling to do so,” Councilman Brian Fultz said.

“If we can reduce the number overall, we would have less in the forest, less in our neighborhood, less on 89A.” Jablow said.

“Get comfortable. You’re going to be waiting,” Councilwoman Melissa Dunn said regarding the permit proposal.

“If the Forest Service decides no permits, then we go the legal route, and we’ll get sued,” Jablow said. “We can always bring back the ordinance,” he added, before remarking, “I’m not using that as a hammer.”

“I do not believe that implementation of an areawide limited entry permit system for OHVs is feasible, nor do I believe that it would be the correct management action at this time,” Coconino National Forest Supervisor Laura Jo West wrote to the council on Jan. 27, 2022. “Motorized use is a legitimate use of national forest lands.”

No USFS representatives attended the meeting. The Greater Sedona Recreation Collaborative, an ad hoc working group of government officials and business owners discussing OHV use, also had no formal representation at the meeting.

Road Closures

“I’m concerned about Morgan Road,” Jablow said, noting that the process to implement a permitting system was likely to be lengthy. “I was wondering if we could discuss, and see how the council feels, about this ordinance going into effect — the banning of OHVs on Morgan Road only until such time as there’s a permitting system in place … That would help remedy some of the issues that the people on Morgan Road are going through.”

“It’s within council’s authority to designate OHV routes and to close routes to OHVs,” Christianson said.

“Why Morgan Road?” Dunn asked. “I hear lots of residents complain about Schnebly [Hill Road]. Why would we choose just the one? Are we in essence opening ourselves to more annoyance from residents who say, ‘What about my road?’ Should we be considering, if we were to close this, to close it to multiple roads where we know that residents today have issues with the volume of traffic?”

“It’s a fair question,” Christianson said. “If you’re going to close one, why not the others?”

“In a perfect world, I’d ban ATVs, but I’d also ban motorcycles and people who don’t use their turn tickers. We don’t live in a perfect world,” Councilwoman Jessica Williamson said. “Under the voluntary agreement [residents are] going to get quieter vehicles … I don’t see any benefit to the city or the residents to be caught up in litigation while nothing gets better without any guarantee or any reason to think at the end of it the city would prevail anyway … We can fashion a compromise that gives residents who object to OHVs some relief.”

“I look forward to a time when if someone goes over 50 miles an hour on a trail, the computer shouts ‘slow down,’” Williamson added.

Debate over ‘Safety’

“The ordinance, as I understood it, was about improper equipment for safety within the jurisdiction of Sedona,” Dunn said. “When I look at the volunteer list [in the letter from OHV owners], I see very few items that have anything to do with safety. There’s nothing in our ordinance that has anything to do with noise.”

“A lot of these do have to do with safety,” Christianson said, then referenced the agreement’s speed limits, education for renters and GPS installation requirements as examples.

“Do we have a big problem that you’re aware of in Sedona with OHVs going beyond 35 mph now?” Dunn asked.

“Not generally, ” Christianson said.

“I wasn’t quite sure how the GPS was actually a safety thing,” Dunn continued.

“That safety is primarily for outside the city, so they can’t do doughnuts,” Christianson said.

Dunn then described the proposed agreement’s provisions as “soft language” and “squishiness” and repeatedly said that “we have no control” over a number of aspects of the OHV industry.

“It doesn’t apply to anyone who owns their own [OHV], it doesn’t apply to anyone who brings in their own from outside of the state or outside of our city,” Dunn said. “It doesn’t apply to any new businesses that open, because they have not signed this commitment, nor does it apply to anyone who buys a business within the city limits … There is a lot of faith that we as a city are having to put in the hands of a few businesses.”

“If this meets our demands, then this ordinance should be tabled, because it doesn’t follow what’s inside of the voluntary commitment,” Dunn summarized. “At this point, what I am is a little confused as to what we as a council were and are and want to actually do for the residents.”