Sedona council gave workers ability to live in their cars. Voters want ability to eliminate it

SEDONA — Voters in November will have the chance to override a controversial housing program that would allow Sedona workers to live in their cars.

Citizens filed the referendum on March 14, just two days after a heated city council meeting where dozens of residents spoke out against the rezoning of a six-acre parking lot at the Sedona Cultural Park for the temporary Safe Place to Park program.

Sedona City Council ultimately voted 6-1 to approve the rezoning, leaving a ballot referendum as the only way city residents can either reaffirm or reverse their decision.

The program would include 40 parking spots for those employed full-time within city limits. It would require participants to actively engage in case management with local social services — with an end goal of securing permanent housing after the program ends. The site would also include temporary restrooms, showers and trash bins.

The Safe Place to Park program has a firm two-year lifespan with a limit on its grant funding and a zoning reversal that would revoke the specified land use in June 2026.

Prior to their vote, council members acknowledged the program is not ideal and is not the permanent solution to the area's affordable housing crisis. But they said it is something that can be done immediately to help alleviate the situation for those who would otherwise be illegally sleeping in their cars on city streets or nearby National Forest land.

"I don't think there's anybody up here or staff that are extremely proud of this. This is a last-ditch effort," Mayor Scott Jablow said. "No one's really proud because this isn't really the answer. It's one of many answers."

The ballot petition was spearheaded by the Save the Cultural Park Committee, which was officially created the day after the council meeting in March. The committee collected just over 900 valid signatures supporting the referendum — well over the 597 required to make the ballot.

Leading the group is resident Bill Noonan, who spoke against the program ahead of the vote and told city leaders that an affirmative vote would be followed immediately by a petition to put the issue in the hands of voters.

"If the city does pass this misbegotten zoning ordinance, I've already prepared and tomorrow I will file for a ballot referendum so the people of Sedona can correct that mistake," Noonan said in March. A former resident of Portland, Noonan said he moved to Sedona to escape a homeless crisis that he said was created by the city.

A majority of the residents in attendance at that March council meeting agreed with Noonan's opposition to the program, particularly citing the location at the Cultural Park. The city bought the 41-acre property for $23 million last year after it spent more than a decade on the market after being purchased out of foreclosure.

The land sat largely unused for two decades but the community will soon be undergoing an intensive process to develop a master plan for the future of the Cultural Park, which officials estimate will take at least two years to complete.

Those who spoke in favor of the Safe Place to Park program argued that housing costs across the Verde Valley have skyrocketed. Many of the people who work in the restaurants, shops and other businesses that maintain the town's tourism industry are now being priced out.

This program, they said, is a way to keep them in town and keep them safe.

And while there were many more residents against the project at the meeting, council members said numerous emails they've received in support of the program illustrate residents are more split on the issue than the night's meeting would suggest.

Vice Mayor Holli Ploog cast the sole dissenting vote against the rezoning and said she ended the night conflicted with how to best represent the people of Sedona on this issue.

Something as divisive and controversial as the program could "break this community," Ploog said, adding she welcomed a ballot referendum and would even sign the petition herself.

"It's the only way that the people will have a voice — through the ballot box," Ploog said.

Reach the reporter at LLatch@gannett.com.

The Republic’s coverage of northern Arizona is funded, in part, with a grant from Report for America. To support regional Arizona news coverage like this, make a tax-deductible donation at supportjournalism.azcentral.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Fate of controversial Sedona housing program will be up to voters