Sedona Land Development Code nears finish

For more than a year and a half, the city of Sedona has been in the process of updating its detailed Land Development Code. That’s to be expected, since the last update came more than two decades ago.

As the LDC update is coming to a close, the Sedona Planning and Zoning Commission received one of its last updates on Tuesday, June 5. The commission is scheduled to conduct a public hearing on the draft document Tuesday, June 19, before making a final recommendation to the Sedona City Council.

The city, with the assistance of Matt Goebel and Tareq Wafaie from Clarion Associates, began working on the update of the LDC in late 2016. This regulatory document governs land uses, design of buildings and standards for parking, landscaping, fencing, color and material, etc. Additionally, it provides standards for how proposals are reviewed. The LDC is also a tool used to implement the Sedona Community Plan, helping turn visions and goals into reality, senior planner Mike Raber wrote in a report.

The draft LDC — which has been reduced by nearly 200 pages — is the first comprehensive update since the document was adopted in 1994. It has undergone a number of additions and amendments made over the past years. However, the report states it is inadequate and does not handle many new activities, building designs and opportunities to implement the community’s vision.

The main goals of the LDC update are:

  • Be user friendly and easy to understand. 
  • Provide clear and specific direction for development and redevelopment. 
  • Implement the 2014 Sedona Community Plan. 
  • Address the goals identified in adopted Community Focus Area plans. 
  • Reflect best practices.

Raber said public input has been important throughout this process and has been gathered through numerous meetings, online surveys and comment forms, as well as emails and phone calls.

Part of making the LDC more user friendly includes reducing the number of zoning districts within the city.

“You have so many zoning districts trying to achieve a very similar purpose,” Wafaie said. “There was lots of room for consolidation, a need for new zoning districts and some districts that will no longer be needed.”

In past meetings, Raber has said the LDC update can also help Sedona meet the goals of the Sedona Community Plan through the following ways:

  • Environmental protection: Ensure development standards protect sensitive areas and are tailored appropriately for Sedona’s natural environment.
  • Housing diversity: Provide a greater mix of housing types permitted in appropriate areas throughout the city, and reduce code barriers to improve housing affordability.
  • Community gathering places: Consider opportunities through subdivision and development to improve public common areas.
  • Economic diversity: Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach to development, provide appropriate tools to encourage a wider variety of businesses and opportunities in Sedona.
  • Reduce traffic: Address circulation for multiple transportation modes [cars, transit, bikes and pedestrians], and ensure that future development in Sedona promotes mobility for all ages and abilities.
  • Access to Oak Creek: Protect this prominent feature of the community, and ensure that surrounding land uses and corridors provide adequate access without compromising the health of the riparian area.

“This is a major task,” Chairman Marty Losoff said in terms of the update. “But we have to remember this is a living document, which means that if we decide on something tomorrow that we can go back in and modify it or change it within a period of time. In terms of our overall goals with this, I feel they have been met for the most part. Overall, I think it looks pretty good.”

Visit the city’s LDC webpage at SedonaLDCupdate.com to learn about the code and the update process.

Ron Eland can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 122 or by email at reland@larsonnewspapers.com