Environment Summary
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Taking cars off the road reduces air pollution, reduces noise pollution, reduces impact on roads, reduces commute times, reduces accidents, and improves quality of life for residents
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Keep residential streets for residents
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Trailhead and On Demand Shuttles awareness improvements
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Extend On Demand Shuttles to better support residents
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Transit to popular visitor sites and commercial areas
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Keep Sedona clean, green, and sustainable
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Protect our natural resources and provide a serene and beautiful place to live
Introduction
Putting aside the environmental impacts of over tourism on the Red Rocks as these are outside the purview of the city beyond continuing to work with the Forest Service and local environmental organizations, the city is attempting to change the people attracted to our community as much as is possible through the Tourism Dept. The focus has been on striving to attract visitors who will care about the trails and our community as much as we do. Perhaps even attract people who will stay at the high-end resorts and not in short-term rentals and purchase something awesome from one of our many local artists, artisans and craftsmen and choose to eat at one of our many local eateries rather than buy groceries and feed themselves.
But there are limits to the success of ad campaigns like these as people who have heard word of mouth or social media or news threads about Sedona, will still come and stay in short-term rentals and throw trash or human waste on the trails rather than pack out and choose to cook for themselves rather than eat out. There are also a lot of day trippers from the Phoenix Metro area and the Verde Valley, who come and use trails, rent OHVs, and spend little money in the community but add strain to the infrastructure. But working with the Chamber of Commerce, the Lodging Council, the Forest Service and other organizations and directly with businesses, the city is attempting to mitigate the impact of tourism knowing we are not going to stop people from coming and we can't change attitudes and behavior in a couple of days or even weeks.
We experience other environmental issues in Sedona because we sit in a bowl surrounded by Red Rock formations and at the bottom of a canyon. The winds sweep any smoke from a forest burn, prescribed or not, down into Sedona. Heat domes, exacerbated by vehicle pollution, can trap poor air over Sedona as the heat rises. This poor air quality can cause illness and beathing issues, especially in the young and older residents or worsen those with chronic conditions. Creating a program that allows residents to have use of air filters was something I thought was important and pushed for through the sustainability department. I still believe we need to find a way to create a city-wide cooling center for residents and their pets for when the summer temperatures are so high that air conditioning may become unaffordable given the ever rising utility costs. Perhaps putting a series of air quality monitors across the city allowing a city-wide alert to go out when the quality turns yellow, orange, red or purple. Many major cities do this because of car air pollution, why not for smoke or dust pollution to which we are susceptible?
Emergency evacuation is not simply something we should talk about but implement. And thanks to resident insistence, the city does have a two-county wide plan. I have heard that this plan is necessary but not sufficient. I am happy to learn more to make the plan even more robust.
And then there is Oak Creek and the fragile riparian eco-system that has grown around it. For years, residents have asked that the city purchase creek property to protect it while at the same time creating a community gathering space around it.
When it has made sense, I have supported the purchase of land with creek access or opposed building on land that may damage the riparian areas or the creek, because no amount of bed tax, sales tax or gas tax can restore it once it is lost.
But the Creek, with its cooling shade is only one possible area for creating a resilient Sedona. Resilience is key in a changing environment, from adding shade structures (natural and man-made), water refill stations, green spaces for both cooling and social meeting spaces, along with the ability to rely on our neighbors for aid and support. All of these features, and more, are necessary to contribute to the resident quality of life.
Traffic and Parking
Tourists are not going away. In fact, tourism may increase with more Americans staying within the US for holidays, more people moving to the greater Phoenix Metro area and movements toward building more tourist attractions beyond the Red Rocks themselves.
More tourists may mean more cars on the road as does any increase in the hotels, restaurants and shops meant to serve them as their employees may also be on the road. All of which leads to more traffic, more issues with parking in neighborhoods with trailheads, tourist attractions, large numbers of short-term rentals and/or one of our three primary shopping districts.
There are only two ways to deal with increased volumes of traffic: disburse the traffic so it doesn't seem as heavy or get vehicles off the road. Here I address the impact of increased traffic on our ability to move around town and on our neighborhoods.
There are only two main roads into or out of town: 89A and 179. Sedona doesn't own 89A, except for the small section in Uptown, and it doesn't own 179, which is only two lanes and designated as a scenic byway - an attraction in itself. Projects like road widening, signals, signage, removal of crosswalks or the addition or removal of round-abouts on either of those two roads requires working with Arizona Dept. of Transportation (ADOT). This can take a long period of time, a lot of studies, etc. before obtaining ADOT approval to move forward with anything. Making connections between those main roads and City owned roads or other projects proposed by our city engineers, some to disburse traffic and some to make evacuation faster, a slower than desired process.
Some projects, like a roundabout at the base of the Forest Road Extension and measured signaling, like on large interstate on ramps, at the Y are designed to keep traffic flowing.
The underpass at Tlaquepaque is designed to allow ADOT to close the street level pedestrian walkway that impacts traffic through the Y. There are, however, some ADOT-imposed impediments to fully closing the street level crosswalk and city staff are working on hopefully removing those issues.
Council is having conversations around whether the idea of a pedestrian overpass at the end of Uptown is an idea that has come into its own with the pedestrian/vehicle conflict that slows traffic through the heart of Uptown main street.
Even the parking garage and its use of the Forest Road Extension was designed to pull cars going into Uptown sooner and reduce both the clogging of the roads and the traffic circling to find a place to park. To vote for the garage, I insisted that the garage pay for itself both cost to build and cost to operate and maintain. I also wanted to have in place a residential permit program preventing non-resident vehicles from parking on residential streets, at least at peak hours. Finally, a resident lead comprehensive Uptown CFA creating community gathering spaces, shared use paths and other community amenities was asked for. Fortunately, enough of the council agreed and so staff was directed. So why don't we have a permit system, CFA, parking payment on existing lots already? especially as the garage opens in two months? Because we didn't have a planner on staff to work on the CFA and we didn't have appropriate people on staff to work on parking technology, pricing or residential permits. We do now and a resident committee is working with staff on parking for residents and employees and the rates to charge. The technology has been selected and awaits approval from Council. Government sometimes moves slowly but we are getting there!
Parking is another issue many of us, including myself, encounter in our neighborhoods and when we actually want to go into one of the business districts. Though, if you are lucky enough to live within the current on demand or micro shuttle route, you could always use that service instead of looking for a parking space.
The parking garage, in conjunction with the Forest Road Extension, I believe, should help alleviate some of the issues in Uptown, drawing visitors coming from the West away from going into Uptown proper and instead using the garage and then walking or using a shuttle, including the proposed business circulator, to get around Uptown and possibly even as the jump off spot to get to trailheads of interest. This is intended to keep people from driving around Uptown looking for a place to park. Further, if people have a better way of remembering where their car is parked, then I am hopeful that should an emergency evacuation ever be required, people know where to go and can use Forest Road Extension to exit Uptown quickly.
I am aware there are resident concerns about the safety of the garage around the inclusion of Electric Vehicle charging stations. I have heard these concerns, and I have suggested we bring everyone in to discuss the concerns, and I will continue to make the recommendation. But with rising costs of gasoline, we should expect to see more EVs in our community owned by us or by visitors. Providing charging stations will become a requirement even for those of us with an EV but no at home charging capability.
Parking by employees on residential streets and in the various city owned or leased lots will become a greater concern once the lots and the garage are hourly pay lots. I have concerns that visitors, looking for free parking, will also take over our neighborhood streets. Because of these concerns, as mentioned previously, there is a business and resident committee working with the transit team to come up with a plan to support resident neighborhoods and address the loss of free employee parking.
Transportation and Mobility
Shuttles
Mobility: the ability to move around Sedona without the use of a car is the third FY27 council priority. It is also the alternative to traffic disbursement because the goal is to remove cars from the road. The shared use paths, the transit system being created (i.e. Trailhead Shuttles, On Demand Shuttles and the future business circulator), and subsidizing the Verde Shuttle are all efforts to get people, including us, out of our vehicles and using shared transport or bicycles or our legs.
Having lodging and short-term rentals promote the use of alternative means of travel is critical to success. Improving our shuttle service to allow us residents to use it to go to events or an evening out or even shopping is critical as well. Providing a highly functional system across the Verde Valley so workers can use shared transportation should be a goal. The costs of commuting should decrease as there should be reduction in the cost of gasoline and maintenance, both of which may allow workers to lower the cost burden of housing, food and other necessities.
The On Demand Shuttle or Shuttle Connect is in use by many of our residents, regardless of age. This shuttle service is similar to uber ride share. All of the shuttles are ADA accessible and have the ability to store bikes if you want to avoid 89A or 179 bike lanes and wait until a shared use path is available. There is a phone app available (https://sedonashuttle.com/microtransit) that will let you call for a shuttle to your destination, tell you when it will arrive, and when it will drop you off.
Currently, the On Demand Shuttles run at the same times as the Trailhead Shuttles (Thursday to Sunday) and with the same limited hours. We need to extend those times to be every day and until later in the evening allowing for how we, as residents, need and want to get about town. We also need to determine how quickly we can roll out this service to everyone within the borders of Sedona because the service is not yet everywhere.
Finally, beyond the proposed business circulator, I hope the revised transportation master plan will also include a service that runs to all of the visitor "hotspots", like the Chapel in the Rocks, the Sedona Community Cemetery or the Jordan Historical Park, so visitors can call for the shuttle, visit those sites and then go somewhere else while not creating traffic issues for residents in those neighborhoods.
Mobility Hubs
Today we have the Trailhead Shuttle lots to make it easier for visitors, mainly, to leave their car and use the shuttles to get to the most popular trailheads. Of course, it would be nice if they would leave their car where they are staying and use an on demand shuttle to get them to a trailhead lot. We should work on that, as stated above.
When the parking garage is finished, the thought is that it will be a primary shuttle stop for on demand, trailhead and the business circulator (and perhaps the "Sedona Tourist HotSpot" shuttle). Of course, various shuttles may also stop at all the paid parking lots as they traverse their rounds. The garage may also act as a transit stop for the Verde Shuttle as well.
We have also discussed whether to use the parcel of land just off Brewer for a mobility hub. Not simply changing shuttle or bus routes but also perhaps renting a bicycle or heading out on the shared use paths into the Forest or into the Business districts in Uptown and off 179.
Shared Use Paths
Shared Use Paths are designed to be wider than a traditional sidewalk allowing both pedestrians, bicycles and non-class 1 (fully motorized) e-bikes. A Shared Use Path is different from a traditional sidewalk because it is wider (8-10feet) and marked such that it can support both bicyclists and pedestrians.
Sidewalks are narrower (4-6 feet) and are intended to accommodate pedestrians. The mixture of bicyclists and pedestrians on sidewalks is an issue because pedestrian traffic moves substantially slower than wheeled traffic. The sense of alarm and fear that pedestrians feel due to fast moving bicycle traffic is not unlike the fear a bicyclist might feel riding in the same lane as automobile traffic.
The legality of riding on sidewalks can vary from community to community in Arizona. There is no Arizona Revised Statute that prohibits riding a bicycle on the sidewalk, but ARS 28-627 (part 8) does grant power to local authorities to regulate the operation of bicycles. Sedona police officers will use their judgment in each situation when they observe a rider on the sidewalk. If they believe a cyclist is riding in an unsafe manner, they will intervene.
Sedona is both creating new shared use paths on streets where there are currently no sidewalks, and also widening sidewalks on other streets, such as Shelby. More than 36 miles are planned as part of the Sedona Trails and Pathways (ST&PS) program. I am a strong supporter of the Shared Use Paths and their intended purpose of providing neighborhoods with safe places to walk or ride as well as ultimate connect all of us in Sedona to each other in a non-motorized fashion.
Transit Maintenance
One big ticket item from the transportation team is the construction of a transit maintenance facility out by the wastewater plant. This item has yet to get approval from Council as there is no business plan yet presented. This council believes, as do I, that the maintenance center must be able to pay any debt incurred to build it, as well as the cost of maintenance and operation. This is the same requirement given to the garage. With the resignation of the transportation manager, this will continue to be delayed until a new manager is hired and a business plan is presented.
Though I do know the school district would like the maintenance center to act as both a bus barn and maintenance center for the district school buses. We would also use the maintenance center as an out of service lot for parking out of service shuttles.