Responses to Questionnaire 2010Return to previous page. What is the role of the Sedona City government? Should City government's activities be restricted to providing basic services such as police protection or should it be more proactive? What kind services do you think it important to provide? What does development mean to you?Dan McIlroy -- The true role of government is to do for its citizens what they cannot do for themselves. The police powers of local government are limited to health, safety and welfare issues. Our city is fortunate in that we do not have to provide fire and emergency medical service. Our water and trash collection are provided by private contractors. That leaves our city responsible for police, city administration, waste water disposal, streets, parks, and planning and zoning, etc. In these tight financial times, it is only prudent to limit city services to basic governance. Perhaps, when times are better, the city may want to consider other services.Our city has a unique and beautiful heritage that must be protected. Our red rocks, clean air, dark skies, and quiet nights must be protected from development that would encroach upon them. I am not against growth and development per se, just unsightly development that would affect our quality of life. Michael Ward -- The many community not-for-profits are part of the fabric of our community and the community service organizations provide us with valuable services the city is dependent upon. The City Council needs to introduce accountability and oversight in funding these ancillary activities upon which we depend. The bottom line is, we all as a community are in this together, and the not-for-profits and community service organizations dependent upon city funding, and the city must work together to identify an equitable process of distributing the funding that is available. The focus of the city is on the redevelopment of our existing land. The Community Plan needs to be strengthened with specific community goals to guide redevelopment planning. The old land code system for controlling development and redevelopment needs to be replaced with modern Form-based codes to allow for coordination in appearance and function between individual adjacent parcels. This would dramatically enhance appearance of the SR 89A commercial strip gradually over the next 20 to 50 years. Rob Adams -- The role of the City government is to provide for the health, safety and welfare of its citizens. I believe the government’s role goes beyond basic services. We have a responsibility to provide additional services and assistance for those citizens that are challenged in providing for themselves such as our seniors and youth. We also should be working to enhance the quality of life for our citizens through parks and recreation programs, library services, etc. Funding for these types of programs should be based on priority of need in the community, availability of funding, and accountability guidelines and criteria of the organizations that are funded. Development comes in two forms; new development and redevelopment. In both cases, development is guided by our Community Plan and must conform to our development codes. Barbara Litrell -- To me, the role of City Government is first and foremost to provide the services required for the health, safety and welfare of residents and businesses. Among the services provided by our City are police protection, wastewater and other infrastructure needs. In addition, the city provides parks and public places for public enjoyment. Because we are supported by sales and bed taxes, our city also provides marketing funds to bring more visitors to the area. When times are good, the city can also support other projects that provide community benefits. When revenues are short, this can't be a top priority. Development, to me, means new development on private parcels. It means developing the parcels in harmony with the environment. It also means redevelopment, again in harmony with the environment. All decisions should be made within the framework of the community plan which was voted on by the citizens of Sedona. I also believe that the City Government needs to listen to, inform and follow the will of the people on important issues that affect our quality of life in Sedona. Dennis Rayner -- Sedona City government (employees and City Councils) must continually remind themselves that Sedona is a tourist-based economy and that the “product” we sell to our tourists and residents is our environment. Destruction of our environment will eventually destroy our economic base. Sedona City government should not only provide basic services (police), but should be more proactive in assessing what “we the people” want in this City and how to get there. ‘How to get there’ should also mean fully assessing the options from public to private which may not necessarily mean a new City responsibility. We should figure out “as a community” what we want. Form-based codes are one way to get there. We have an opportunity to lay the ground work for form-based codes in the next two years during the next City Council’s updating of the Communty Plan. Development does NOT necessarily mean allowing developers to develop as they wish or continually “up-zone” land so they might sell it at a higher price undeveloped. I agree with Al Specor’s public suggestion (at the Tuesday Feb 27 City Council meeting) that the City should raise fees signifcantly for any re-zoning and/or development proposals to ‘weed-out’ those developers only interested in such maneuvers. The City Council should also limit renewals of already approved unbuilt development plans and re-zoning proposals. This action will limit past approvals when the rules change, so a new owner would have to comply with the new rules. I feel that City Council made a mistake (and dangerous precedent) in approving a permanent re-zoning for the Sedona Rouge expansion – especially when the ‘affordable housing’ mandate was not met and new rules just enacted (1/27/10) would have forced a greater barrier to nearby homeowners. There is also a problem with what “community benefit” means to the City and what the same means to nearby residents in the P&Z development approval process. Nancy Scagnelli -- City government should first and foremost protect the health, safety and welfare of the residents. Addressing basic services must come first. For example, I believe the City should take care of infrastructure maintenance and improvements, because those are the sorts of things that residents cannot do for themselves. After that, the taxpayers’ money should be spent on those services and enhancements that benefit the most people and improve our quality of life. Development occurs when property owners build on their vacant land or add on to/redevelop existing properties. I believe we have the lowest growth rate in the state, and Sedona is nearing build out in both residential and commercial areas. The City regulates, through its codes and ordinances, what kind of development happens. There are many steps in the process to ensure quality development that is in alignment with our Community Plan. Dan Surber -- The top priorities are health, safety and welfare of the community. That translates into the basic services such as; roads, drainage, sewer and police protection. We have to be proactive in terms of maintenance to avoid deterioration of our infra-structure. I do believe the city has an obligation to provide services to sustain our community our citizens. Organizations such as The Sedona Community Center, Sedona Sunrise Center, The Boys and Girls Club, The Sedona Food Bank and The Sedona Community Library need to be supported. Development is controlled by availability and cost of land, current zoning and City design standards. We are 80% built-out our future development will be re-development of existing properties. Identifying and protecting Sedona’s character while protecting existing view corridors and vistas will be an important element of the city’s study for redevelopment and the Community Plan update. Jeffrey Sietz -- No response! Jerry Frey -- No response! Return to previous page.
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