Tactic C2.1
Collaborate
Better coordinate with land managers, nonprofits, and businesses to develop collaborative solutions.
Insufficient coordination among the many organizations striving to make Sedona better limits the positive impact they can have on Sedona’s economic sustainability. Land management organizations (USFS and Arizona State Parks), nonprofits (Keep Sedona Beautiful, Red Rock Trail Fund, Oak Creek Watershed Council, Sedona Lodging Council, Verde Front Collaborative, Sedona Verde Valley Tourism Council, etc.), and the broad array of engaged private business entities need to be coordinated and convened to maximize their beneficial impact.
The SCC&TB will expand its services to take on this role, helping ensure collaborative solutions to issues facing the city.
IMPACTED PILLARS
TIMEFRAME Short-term (12-18 months)
LEAD PARTNER SCC&TB
SUPPORTING PARTNERS Land Managers, Nonprofit Organizations, Sedona Lodging Council, Keep Sedona Beautiful, Sedona Verde Valley Tourism Council, Verde Valley Regional Economic Organization, Verde Front Collaborative
ALIGNING RESEARCH Nonprofit Focus Group, Land Managers Focus Group, Public Input, GSTC
TARGET / STATUS TO DATE
1. Number of collaborative meetings - GOAL = 10 / STATUS = 10
2. Examples of new collaborative outcomes
PROGRESS TO DATE
Collaborate
Better coordinate with land managers, nonprofits, and businesses to develop collaborative solutions.
FY21 & FY20: In late FY21, the SCC&TB reached out to establish meetings and public discussions on a variety of economic-quality issues requiring a collaborative approach. For example, the SCC&TB and Sedona Lodging Council began initial planning a September event featuring panel discussions with outside experts on effective community management of the negative impacts of short term rentals.
The SCC&TB reached out to “Tread Lightly!”, an industry-based organization that seeks to improve opportunities and increase education for OHV users. The goal is to initiate discussion on education Sedona-area OHV renters and owners on reducing the quality of life and economic impact of OHV usage in the area.
The SCC&TB participated in meetings with the Sedona Verde Valley Tourism Council to explore ways to continue building regional tourism partnerships that promote regional business and disperse tourism from heavily-trafficked Sedona locations.
In March 2021, the SCC&TB convened a Nonprofit Leadership Roundtable, bringing together leaders of all nonprofit SCC&TB members to integrate resources and programs to increase the sustainability impact of Sedona nonprofits, which includes such critical sustainability groups as Keep Sedona Beautiful, Sedona Recycles, the Sustainability Alliance and more.
The SCC&TB lobbied businesses to help expand the Sedona Trail Keeper Program (10 new businesses added for a total of 50), which resulted in presentation of a $100,000 check to SRRTF to supplement the USFS RRRD trail maintenance budget.
The SCC&TB’s expansion of voluntourism programs includes a website for non-profits to post voluntourism opportunities. The SCC&TB promoted volunteer organizations and events such as the Oak Creek Watershed Council and Trail Lovers’ Excursions “Stewards of Sedona” cleanups. The SCC&TB promoted the Sedona Cares Pledge to businesses and the public, encouraging signing and sharing the Pledge.
Keep Sedona Beautiful (KSB) is an advocate in Yavapai County’s Comprehensive Plan Update and worked with the City of Sedona and Yavapai County to generate input.
On January 27, 2021, the Sustainability Alliance and KSB conducted a seminar introducing the public to the process.
- In February 2021, KSB convened a working group to make suggestions for the community survey the County will conduct, asking residents’ views on numerous issues and asking for prioritization, including development and land use.
- KSB began drafting a Vison Statement for protection of public lands for inclusion in the Update in March 2021.
The County anticipates completing the Comprehensive Plan Update by the end of 2022.
At its September 22, 2021 meeting, the Sedona City of Sedona Council unanimously supported a proposal by the US Forest Service and the Trust for Public Land to purchase the 27-acre Tobias-Flynn property along Oak Creek adjacent to the airport, protecting this important area from development. Advocacy agencies such as the SCC&TB and KSB supported the Council decision.
The AutoCamp proposal attracted widespread community and government interest. Keep Sedona Beautiful met with the developer and posed a series of questions to Yavapai County about the proposed rezoning of 18+ acres from Residential to PAD to allow a 100 unit Airstream Camping complex on land northwest of the City of Sedona limits, surrounded by National Forest and bordered on 2 sides by Wilderness.
The Sedona City Council held a public hearing on the proposal on October 27, 2020. As a result, the City of Sedona submitted comments to Yavapai County expressing several concerns about the project.
In February 2021, Autocamp withdrew their proposal but expects to purchase the parcel and return for County approval of a revised project in the future.