Sedona city staff held a public forum on the city’s proposed 2023 Community Plan, which will update the city’s general plan at the 10-year interval required by state statute, at the Sedona Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Jan. 6. A second forum will take place at SPAC on Thursday, Jan. 11, at 5 p.m.

The 2023 plan is intended to guide city government decisions for the next decade. The update reflects a number of recent concerns expressed by homeowners in Sedona neighborhoods; reduces the number of overall goals in the 2013 plan and replaces them with guiding principles; and omits the 2013 plan’s proposed development of the Sedona Cultural Park as a performance venue and arts village.

The draft plan is currently scheduled to be sent to the Planning and Zoning Commission for approval on Feb. 20 and then to City Council on March 12.

Key Issues

Key issues identified by the 2013 plan included lack of community gathering spaces, housing diversity and affordability, traffic congestion and lack of alternative routes, possible inadequate water supply, lack of bike and pedestrian infrastructure, protection of the forest, economic diversification, lack of youth and family activities, lack of support for the arts and damage to historic sites. Principal planner Cynthia Lovely described traffic as “the No. 1 issue” the 2013 plan addressed.

According to the 2023 plan, the key overall issues facing Sedona are off-highway vehicles, short-term rentals and over-tourism. The term “off-highway vehicle” appears once in the 2013 plan.

The city presentations at the Jan. 6 forum emphasized housing and traffic concerns.

Vision

The 2013 Community Plan set out six major outcomes for the city to achieve by 2020: Becoming an international model for balancing environmental protection with human needs, building diverse housing types, developing a network of gathering places, diversifying the economy, reducing traffic by building a transit system and creating walkable districts and better access to Oak Creek.

The 2023 plan replaces these with guiding principles to “Honor and protect our environment and heritage; support regional economic diversity, local businesses and responsible tourism; [and] strengthen community livability and connections.”

Land Use & Housing

The 2023 plan reiterates the 2013 plan’s commitments to limiting new lodging development, encouraging clustering of residential units, allowing densities greater than 12 per acre for multi-family developments and preserving viewsheds, but eliminated the previous plan’s policies of encouraging senior housing and non-traditional housing types.

The new plan also adds proposals to create mixed-used zoning districts to “transform the commercial corridors into a mix of residential, commercial and public uses well-connected for walking, biking or using transit” and to “encourage development of multi-family housing within the commercial corridors.” Its housing policies are focused on encouraging the construction of multi-family rental housing by developers and employers.

The 2023 plan does not propose reducing the city’s building or land development codes, which city Housing Manager Shannon Boone has identified as one of the primary obstacles to building affordable housing in Sedona.

The 2023 plan includes a proposed expansion of the Uptown community focus area and the creation of a West Sedona Corridor CFA.

At the Jan. 6 forum, attendees were asked if they supported ADUs on single-family lots. Twenty said it would be a great option, 12 said they could live with it and 14 said “no way.”

Traffic and Transit

The 2023 plan expands on the 2013 plan’s goal of creating a more walkable and bikeable community but omits a related objective from the 2013 plan: “Limit the building of new roads and streets and make strategic investments in other modes of travel.” The 2023 plan proposes that the city “upgrade Sedona’s major roads into ‘complete streets’ that are designed for safe use by all modes of travel … [and] explore potential street connections that connect neighborhoods while maintaining the safety and integrity of the neighborhoods.”

The 2023 plan further identifies one of the issues with the city’s transit system as being “resident perception that transit is for visitors not residents, especially with the trailhead shuttles being the first to launch.”

The new plan also suggests that the city “explore transfer of W 89A from state to city jurisdiction.”

Following an attempt to acquire that portion of road in 2011 that was rejected by 70% of Sedona voters, Proposition 411, passed by 77.2% of voters, requires any route transfer negotiations between the city of Sedona and Arizona Department of Transportation to face a public vote before approval.

Environment

Water issues took priority in the environmental section of the 2013 Community Plan, such as ensuring a future water supply, protecting Oak Creek and reducing the effects of flooding, as well as promoting environmentally-responsible building and design. The 2023 update has added plans to introduce additional regulations to prevent wildfires, increase the number of city communications in Spanish, encourage locals to install more photovoltaic solar and reuse effluent.

The new draft also calls for the city to “engage in partnerships that work to protect and restore the environment from the impacts of outdoor recreation.”

Cultural Park

The 2013 Community Plan called for the reopening of the Sedona Cultural Park amphitheater and the preservation of as much of the park as possible as open space, with development sufficient to provide an “intimate village environment” featuring a maximum of 40 housing units focused on housing artists.

The 2023 Community Plan includes no references to any development at the Cultural Park apart from housing, stating that it is the city’s intent “to partner with developers to build a variety of housing types.”

Public Comment

Housing Work Group Chairwoman Linda Martinez said that the plan’s continued definition of single-family housing as one residence on one lot “ties our hands” with regard to lot splits and ADU construction, while Tourism Advisory Board Chairman Dave Price wanted the plan to explain the rationale for prioritizing apartment construction at the Cultural Park rather than the Dells.

Architect Bruce Howden called the proposal to build housing at the Cultural Park “one of the stupidest ideas I’ve heard in the last 50 years.”

“Please do not encourage the expansion of government control over its population,” Susan Gorney said with regard to the plan’s proposal to “establish regulations for local tenants’ rights.” Conversely, Bob Haizmann suggested that the city require water flow restrictors in kitchens and showers.

Requests and comments from residents at the city’s interaction stations during the forum included:

• “More effective parking options. I like the idea of special passes for residents.”
• “More sidewalks.”
• “More access to Oak Creek.”
• “Take over SPAC for community.”
• “Would we rather have sprawl out there [the Dells] or infill here?”
• “We need better concert series.”
• “We’ve got a plan to make 89A four lanes. One lane in and three lanes out.”
• “Getting the Christians to act like Christians” on homelessness.
• “Restore the Cultural Park for arts, music and performance — build community.”
• “Better maintenance of roads to some trailheads.”
• “Build an artery to circumvent traffic.”