During their priority retreat on Thursday, Dec. 14, the members of the Sedona City Council discussed their desire to encourage the development of diverse housing types and tiny homes, and also approved moving forward with more regulations on such development.

City housing manger Shannon Boone had previously updated the council on the progress of its housing initiatives. Boone noted that the city has been able to obtain deed restrictions prohibiting short-term rentals on nine properties out of the roughly 6,800 in the city, with another three deed restrictions in progress. The Rent Local program, which offers landlords a financial incentive to lease their properties as long-term rentals “has not been wildly successful,” Boone said, with a total of four units having been converted from STRs. The city’s down payment assistance program has also provided aid to four homebuyers, two of them during the current fiscal year.

While the council’s retreat packet stated that 587 affordable housing units are “currently in predevelopment,” these are all apartment units being constructed by developers, and council members expressed concern over the absence of accessory dwelling units and tiny homes from proposed solutions.

“We have all these projects, potential projects — they’re all out several years at best,” Vice Mayor Holli Ploog said. “If we wait for the Land Development Code revision … we’re pushing a conversation about ADUs for several years, when that could be something more immediate as a housing solution.”

Councilwoman Jessica Williamson called for changes to the LDC “that will accommodate small homes and different kinds of housing here that we really need, that would really be appropriate for a lot of silly sites that we have.”

“I think our regulations have to be looked at,” Williamson said. “Communities aren’t doing enough to accommodate the kind of housing that we’re looking for.”

“What else is in the LDC that is slowing down or prohibiting market-rate solutions for housing?” Councilman Pete Furman asked. “They might also be things like process? What is the process that we drag people through?”

“We are working on ways to change those processes to make it easier,” Community Development Director Steve Mertes said.

“Is there anything else that might accompany tiny houses?” Councilman Brian Fultz asked. “Is there any other limitation around that?”

“It’s very important that we look at every way we can create housing opportunities and what are the barriers. We keep hearing about barriers from architects, from engineers,” Ploog said. “We need to move forward as fast as we possibly can … we’re looking for staff to advise us if there are changes that are needed in our LDC or DIGAH or any other policy that prevents us from moving forward with alternative forms of housing.”

“There are certain things we can look at,” City Manager Karen Osburn said with regard to LDC changes. “I think ADUs is one of them … You can build a tiny home in Sedona … [but] given how expensive land is here, density and building up is so much more efficient.”

Osburn and City Attorney Kurt Christianson recommended the council wait “at least a year or so” to see if Phoenix’s ordinance restricting the short-term rental of ADUs will face any legal challenges.

“We can revisit this at any time we feel legally comfortable,” Osburn continued. “If there are things that we can do to move the needle, whether that be housing or other things, we’d like to be able to do that.”

“Those people say that, but they never quantify or identify what specific things they’re talking about,” Osburn said during the council’s June budget discussions with regard to code-related obstacles to housing construction. “If those people would like to give us the list and the associated cost … produce it, and we’ll respond to it … No one’s been able to produce the list.”

As previously reported in the Sedona Red Rock News, code-related obstacles to constructing owner-built stand-alone small homes in Sedona include:

• Limits on parcel splits, minimum sizes and setbacks. The LDC does not permit lots smaller than 6,000 square feet, narrower than 60 feet or with front and rear setbacks smaller than 20 feet, ruling out tiny homes on many sites. Existing lots may only be split into a maximum of three new parcels and only by permit, and the new lots cannot be smaller than the existing minimum lot size for the zoning district, rendering owner-builders unable to bring their land costs down by splitting an existing single-family lot for multiple tiny homes.
• The average cost of a building permit in Sedona during the first eight months of 2023 was $6,384.20. The fee for a new sewer hookup to a small home in 2024 will be $4,633 and the fee for a moderate-sized home will be $11,854.
• Drawings required for building and related permit applications include — but are not limited to — an existing conditions survey, preliminary site plan, landscape plan, lighting plan, topographic map, vegetation map, calculations for floor, roof, snow and wind loading, “a soils classification prepared by an Arizona registered geotechnical engineer” and possibly additional documents, such as a grading and drainage plan prepared by a licensed engineer that meets 30 detailed requirements. [DREAM 1.1.F, 1.2.C, 3.1.F.2; IBC 1603]
• Numerous building codes. Owner-builders must comply with Sedona’s version of the 2018 International Building Code, which runs to 728 pages in unamended form, as well as the International Residential Code, International Plumbing Code, International Energy Conservation Code, International Mechanical Code, International Fuel Gas Code and National Electrical Code.
• The Sedona Fire District has made numerous amendments to the National Fire Protection Agency 13D standard that include requirements for sprinkler systems, doors and windows, building materials and construction design for new homes.

The council also elected to move forward with staff’s proposed adoption of a new version of the IBC during the meeting.

“When we updated in 2018, we had met with the surrounding communities, counties, and proposed that we all be consistent in our base building codes … and that we would keep to a six-year cycle in order to maintain that consistency throughout the Verde Valley area,” Mertes told the council. “In six years there is quite a bit of new products, new procedures and instruction that if we don’t have these codes to address these new products and procedures, then we start falling behind … I do wish to move forward with this.”

“Proceed,” Williamson said.

“Go for it,” Mayor Scott Jablow said.