The Sedona City Council voted 5-2 on Wednesday, Feb. 24, to approve one of three options from the Arizona Department of Transportation for streetlights in West Sedona.

Council chose the option that entails 35-foot Monterey lights, the same style as is seen in Uptown and along State Route 179.

ADOT told the city it will not have to fund any of the project because ADOT was able to increase its $2 million to cover the cost of the specialty poles.

Two other motions failed by 5-2 votes. One was to study the issue for another six months to determine if it was feasible to turn the control of the state route over to the city, and the other one was to look at other alternatives.

About 20 people addressed council and ADOT, and all but one of them opposed the lights and urged the two government groups to come up with different options.

Vice Mayor Cliff Hamilton, an opponent to the lights, accused ADOT of fabricating facts and “raping” the city for a problem that does not exist.

Councilman Mark DiNunzio said he drives and walks this stretch of road, and added it is extremely dark on ground level at night. When he drove home from a Tuesday night council meeting he passed a man in the median he did not see until the last moment.

“Right now, it’s too dark. It’s not safe,” DiNunzio said. “I support you guys [ADOT] with what you are doing.”

Colquitt said the issue has always been about safety and human life, and she chastised members of the public who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting.

“We ought to be ashamed of ourselves,” she said. “Not one person got up and talked about the human cost.”

Members of the audience did not like that comment.

Colquitt also responded to Hamilton’s comments about two of the people who died on the highway after being hit. Hamilton said they were highly intoxicated. Colquitt said the individuals could have easily been someone everyone knows.

Hamilton said if a woman is going to be “raped,” it does not matter how she is dressed

“It’s obvious Sedona is being raped by ADOT,” he said, and added finding a solution to a problem that does not exist makes no sense.

Hamilton said when looking at statistics, only three fatalities occurred on State Route 89A with the last one occurring in 2006.

ADOT Engineer John Harper said one fatality, in his opinion, is one too many.

Floyd Roehrich, state engineer for ADOT, said the $2 million it received from the federal government can only be used for continuous roadway lighting.

“We intend to move forward with the project,” Roehrich, said.

Resident Ron Volkman said a lot has changed on this highway in the last 20 years. Then he could stand near State Route 89A in West Sedona and not see a vehicle for 20 minutes. Now, he said, statistics show 32,000 vehicles drive through intersections every day. The real issue is making the route safe.

Bob Carabell said the reason motorists did not see the pedestrians until it was too late was because of the glare at Andante Drive, not the darkness.

He said ADOT has circled the wagons and does not care there is a large opposition to any continuous lighting project.

Rod Beach said the public has been misled by ADOT officials, who, he said, maintain the majority of residents support the lighting project.

Cole Greenburg said the city has found itself in a playground scuffle with ADOT, and called State Route 89A the safest corridor in Arizona.

Resident Cliff Oscher accused ADOT of cooking the numbers because he has reviewed every document, and statistics show the public is against the project.

Michael Maresh can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 125, or e-mail mmaresh@larsonnewspapers.com