Cathedral Rock is one of the most popular trails in the Sedona area — and it shows based on the amount of illegally-parked vehicles along Back O’ Beyond Road.
The Sedona Police Department has been kept extra busy over the last several months with parking, not only on Back O’ Beyond, but in other popular areas as well.
“It’s an increasing problem,” SPD Lt. Lucas Wilcoxson said. “Since COVID, we’ve been seeing more people coming up from Phoenix and other areas. And it’s not just Back O’ Beyond. We’re seeing these parking issues at several popular trailheads. And, it’s no longer an issue just on the weekends.”
He said what’s happening is that there will be a line of motorists waiting for a legal spot to open, which, in itself, is causing an issue. Back O’ Beyond backups even reached the roundabout at State Route 179, Wilcoxson said. For many, when they can’t find a spot, they end up parking along Back O’ Beyond in “No Parking” areas.
On busier weekends, the police department sends its Community Service Aides to issue citations. However, over the New Year’s Eve weekend, they were not available, so patrol officers were the ones issuing citations. For those who are not only illegally parked but causing a hazard, the vehicles are subject to towing. Wilcoxson said it usually takes 30 to 40 minutes for a tow truck to arrive, and the officer has to remain on scene.
Sgt. Michael Dominguez said if the owner of the vehicle arrives while the vehicle is being loaded onto the tow truck, it will be released to them on scene, but they are still required to pay the parking ticket as well as the towing service fee.
Just this past weekend alone, 13 citations were issued on Back O’ Beyond on Friday, Jan. 1, for those blocking the roadway. A SPD report states that “traffic had to be shut down to allow Sedona Fire District to respond to an injured hiker, and the road had to remain closed until they were finished, due to traffic blocking the road.”
On Saturday, Jan. 2, SPD issued 15 citations on Back O’ Beyond and another 22 on the Soldier Pass, Sugarloaf, Airport and Huckabee trailheads combined.
Wilcoxson said the police department is collaborating with the Sedona Public Works Department to try and find a solution or at least a deterrence to parking along the roadway.
“You have to change people’s parking behaviors,” Wilcoxson said.
City Engineer Andy Dickey said the city has implemented several changes to help inform motorists but also deter their illegal parking. These include:
■ Installed and relocated boulders.
■ Adjusted signs to be more visible.
■ Placed additional “no parking” signs between the trailhead and State Route 179.
■ Placed variable message electronic signs to inform visitors the parking is full.
■ Added traffic barricades.
Items in the works include installing posts and cable, which is expected to be more effective, as some drivers have been parking on the boulders, and scheduling meetings to explore additional options.
“City staff has been implementing what we can and looking into additional opportunities to address the issues, and we’re certainly taking it seriously,” Dickey said.
Mike Schroeder, who lives in the vicinity of the Back O’ Beyond neighborhood, said he and his fellow neighbors are getting increasingly frustrated with the ongoing parking issues.
“I got a call from one of our residents — it was almost impossible to make a left out of our subdivision,” he said. “I had to call [City Manager] Justin [Clifton] to get some action. He came through. As president of our HOA, I hear these [complaints] all the time.
“This is an area where we have boulders along the road as tourists kept backing into our stone pillars and I was tired of hiring stonemasons to fix them.”
Schroeder added, “There’s a cliff with a drainage ditch on the south side and a concrete swale on the north, and the road is barely wide enough for two cars. There’s probably 100 people a day walking down there and back. If we did not have a gated community with private roads, we would be swamped with cars.”
