Sedona survey respondents lament the cost of living, loss of community
The vast majority of Sedona residents report having an overall positive quality of life in the city, according to the city’s 2022 National Community Survey results, but they also indicated that there are still areas for improvements.
About 25% of nearly 3,000 randomly selected households participated in the most recent survey, providing some insight into the community’s sentiment about a variety of topics.
Many longtime residents have said that the city’s problems, like affordable housing and increased tourism, have eroded Sedona’s overall sense of community. This echoes similar sentiments that many voters expressed during the city’s mayoral election last fall.
Heather Cotten is just one of many residents who watched firsthand as Sedona changed over the last decade. She moved to Sedona in 2010 from Hawaii to be closer to family while she raised her kids.
She said the city has lost much of its distinct sense of community that appealed to her in the first place.
“You have your tourists and you have the small, local community and we really band together, we help each other out,” Cotten said of Sedona’s close-knit feel. “As of right now I could still go out to the grocery store and run into people that I know. If I’m stuck on the side of the road I’m sure someone would help me, but that’s getting less and less.”
While there are many factors involved, she said, the loss of community is due in large part to the cost of living.
“Priced out of paradise, as we say in Hawaii,” Cotten said. “People that are born and raised here can’t afford to have families.”
“I understand why everybody wants to come here and visit, because it’s beautiful,” she said. “But it can’t just be for the wealthy and for the tourists. You have to have all types of people to make a community.”
This sentiment was shared widely based on the survey results. The city’s cost of living received unfavorable ratings from the vast majority of residents, 86%, which is 7% higher than the previous survey and lower than the national benchmark. The results also indicate that many residents are not optimistic about the potential impact the economy may have on their family income over the next six months.
Involved in her kids’ activities growing up over the last decade, Cotten said she slowly started to notice more parents becoming weighed down by trying to afford living in Sedona. Many of the homes they had rented for years were suddenly being turned into short-term rentals, like Airbnb’s, she said, and eventually, many families ended up moving to surrounding towns in the Verde Valley where they could find something affordable.
Due at least in part to the proliferation of short-term rentals, Sedona, like much of the rest of northern Arizona, is experiencing an affordable housing crisis, with the average home cost in the city creeping toward $1 million. Unsurprisingly, almost all survey respondents were unhappy with the variety of housing options and the availability of quality affordable housing.
Like many others looking to move to Sedona, Deana Buffham struggled to find something affordable when she moved from upstate New York to be closer to family last August.
“It’s hard, it’s expensive,” she said. After spending time in an Airbnb and then staying with her family to save money, Buffham was able to find a oneroom tiny house on a horse farm in Cottonwood for her and her service animal. Since moving in, Buffham has become acutely aware of one of the other challenges of living in rural Arizona, as she tries to establish home internet service.
“Right now, it’s $2,000 just to get it set up,” she said. She’s still looking for more affordable options.
Like much of the rest of northern Arizona, access to affordable high-speed internet remains an area for improvement, according to the community survey, as 71% of residents reported negative ratings for the quality of the current service, lower than the national benchmark.
The affordable housing crunch is likely partially blamed on the shortage of workers who live in town, and by extension, the poor ratings for the city’s education system. Only 16% of residents said they were happy with the availability of affordable quality childcare or preschool, and just 29% were happy with the city’s K-12 offerings, both much lower than national benchmarks.
Cotten witnessed the impact on local schools first-hand as her kids made their way through the school system.
For example, one of Cotten’s sons was 8 years old when they first moved to Sedona and during that time, there were plenty of sports and activities for kids of all ages, she said. But by the time he was a senior in high school, they couldn’t even come up with enough players to field a football team for the season.
While the Sedona Oak Creek Unified School District operates independently of city government, Sedona Mayor Scott Jablow said the development of workforce housing will bring families back into town and as a result increase enrollment.
“One of [the district’s] biggest challenges is the loss of students caused by the onslaught of short-term rentals,” Jablow said. “Many families who lived in long-term rentals were forced to relocate to other cities after being forced to move, so enrollment has dropped.”
This exodus has coincided with a sharp decline in the health and wellness offerings in the community, which survey respondents also rated poorly.
While Sedonans had high ratings for their personal health, the results showed a near 20% decrease in residents who view the city’s overall health and wellness opportunities favorably, just 51%. The availability of affordable quality food, healthcare, preventative health services and mental health care all saw similar or worse ratings, much lower than in years past and national benchmarks.
These results were no surprise to Jablow or Cotten, whose kids’ pediatrician originally lived in town but has since moved to Flagstaff.
“It is very well known in Sedona and the entire Verde Valley that the medical resources have been lacking,” Jablow said.
The community is currently served by a local branch of Northern Arizona Healthcare’s Verde Valley Medical Center, a 24/7 emergency room and urgent care center. Those in need of advanced care typically need to be transported by car or air to Flagstaff Medical Center or a hospital near Phoenix.
Local governments are limited in what they can do to expand services because NAH is a private organization, Jablow said.
“With that said, Council recently discussed working regionally to conduct a healthcare assessment and gap analysis to better understand healthcare gaps in services and barriers to services, and what role the city may have in bringing services to the community,” he said.
Residents want to see changes in governance, community design, and more
Coming out of an election year, the results indicate a disconnect between Sedonans and their local government.
Ratings show that residents’ overall confidence in Sedona’s government is low, with only 34% of residents giving high marks, lower than the national average but on par with the city’s 2020 results. Resident ratings also indicated considerable unhappiness with the overall direction the city is taking and a decrease in those who think Sedona is generally acting in the best interest of the community.
A similar decrease was seen when only 34% of residents said they think the city government is being open and transparent.
The election brought about changes to the city council, welcoming new faces and leadership in the form of newly elected mayor Scott Jablow. Since then they have begun to outline some of their legislative priorities as well as seek community input on a variety of topics.
“In Sedona, we have always been transparent with all aspects of the city,” Jablow said in an email. “We proudly post our annual budget on our website, all 376 pages, and have a financial transparency interface on our website where anyone can query any city revenue or expenditure, down to every individual transaction.”
At the same time, Jablow said, these results do not take into account the trickle-down effect of these same sentiments being reflected on a national scale. According to a report from the Pew Research Center last June, just 20% of Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do the right thing just about always or most of the time.
“To help our residents to gain trust in our city we are doing more outreach on social media, producing a monthly roundup full of information on all city activities, are producing city talk articles and informational videos on everything from our use of organic weed killer to how wastewater is processed,” Jablow wrote in an email.
Going hand-in-hand with local governance is community design, which the survey results point to as an area of widespread discontent for residents. Just 26% of residents have favorable views of the city’s land use, planning and zoning, and only 46% said they have a positive overall view of the layout of Sedona’s residential and commercial areas.
In light of these results, Jablow encouraged residents to become more involved in the planning of future projects, namely the 41-acre Cultural Park that was recently purchased by the city, at least 50% of which must be for public use. The city intends to hold a series of community planning meetings in the coming year to help inform the design of the site’s master plan.
“The main focus of this land will be on our much-needed workforce housing, but the city’s ownership provides an opportunity to use the entire site for land uses that will benefit the community,” Jablow said. “Our residents will have the opportunity to weigh in on how this property develops.”
The city is landlocked by public lands, making traditional development and expansion impossible. Instead, leaders will have to focus on the redevelopment of existing properties.
“Much of the area also developed before the city’s incorporation, but that also means that there are older areas that will eventually redevelop, which presents opportunities to reimagine what future land use looks like,” Jablow said.
Related to developing workforce housing, the results showed a stark difference between the perception of Sedona as a place to work, 34% positive, as opposed to a place to visit, 90% positive.
While there was a noticeable uptick in the rating for the vibrancy of Uptown/the commercial area, the results showed a desire for a wider variety of business and service establishments in the city. There was also a marked increase in favorable feedback for both Sedona’s employment and shopping opportunities.
City’s mobility saw improvements
The survey also indicated that the city saw some areas of considerable improvement, hinting at the effectiveness of city efforts.
The influx of commuter and tourist traffic in town has made mobility one of the biggest areas of concern for residents over the past 5 years and the survey results reflect that. The traffic flow on major streets was rated negatively by 87% of residents while the ease of travel by car was also rated poorly.
After spending time living in northern California and Boston, the traffic doesn’t bother David Simmer, a 13-year member of the Rotary Club of Sedona. Simmer lives on county land outside city limits and “has to go through town to get anywhere,” he said.
“If you have to slow down and look around at our scenery, what’s the big problem?” he said of the increased traffic. “Just slow down and enjoy.”
Simmer added: “As a resident, you know when to go out and not to go out,” he said, the week being particularly bad because of the start of spring break and the St. Patrick’s Day parade over the weekend.
“But I think some people figure that if you live in a small town, you should be able to get wherever they want to in 10 minutes,” he said.
But the massive traffic flows that used to be reserved for holiday weekends are now regular occurrences, Cotten said, often limiting trail access for locals.
“We were getting turned away at 9 a.m. when they first opened, because it’s full,” she said.
As part of the Sedona in Motion transportation master plan, the city has implemented a shuttle system and created neighborhood shared-use pathways for pedestrians and cyclists in an attempt to get cars off the roads.
Since its inception last spring, the Sedona Shuttle, which operates in-town service from designated park-and-ride lots to popular trailheads, has served over a quarter-million riders, Jablow said.
The city also has plans to develop a micro-transit service for locals that will function as a bridge between traditional transit and ride-share technology.
Based on the survey results, these projects have shown some promise.
There was a 10% improvement in the ratings for the ease of travel by both bicycle and public transportation since 2020. The number of residents who said they used public transit instead of driving also increased by 6%.
And while getting around in Sedona still has a lot of room for improvement in residents’ eyes, the most recent initiatives have seemed to pay off, at least a little bit.
Sedona’s overall transportation services received positive ratings from 36% of residents, a 10% increase from two years prior.
“The transit services are still in their infancy and we will continue to build the system until residents and visitors can easily and conveniently get anywhere they need to go without using a personal vehicle,” Jablow said.
Natural environment remains a city highlight but could also present a threat
Residents rated the overall quality of the natural environment 90% positive and gave similar high marks for the city’s parks and recreation, a sentiment that has held for years.
While Sedona’s natural attributes continue to drawn in more visitors, some residents want to see the city better weigh the interests and concerns of all parties.
Carl Jackson has been a resident of Sedona’s Broken Arrow neighborhood since 2005, originally drawn here by the area’s natural beauty and tranquility, he said.
In the year’s since, there’s been a steady increase in traffic and development but it really started to escalate in the last three to four years, he said.
Especially in Jackson’s neighborhood near one of the city’s most popular trailheads, the sheer number of OHVs and ATVs has started to significantly impact quality of life in the area.
One of Jackson’s neighbors who moved here in the last five years has already moved away, he said, in large part due to the disruption of OHVs near their home.
“They just couldn’t take it anymore,” he said of the noise and dust caused by the vehicles.
Jackson said that while Sedona should be accessible to everyone, there needs to be more parity between the interests of residents, businesses and visitors.
“Everybody has a right to be here and enjoy it,” he said. “It’s just you kind of want to have more of a balance.”
Additionally, while nearby communities grapple with wildfires and subsequent flooding, the lushness of the natural land surrounding Sedona could mean potential danger.
Survey results also show that while Sedona residents feel safe from crime in their neighborhoods and while in commercial areas, the looming threat of natural disasters has put a growing number of residents on edge.
Since 2020, there has been a 13% drop in the number of residents who said they feel safe from fire, flood or other natural disasters while in town.
In a question unique to Sedona’s survey, residents were asked if they had prepared for a natural disaster emergency. Roughly 7 in 10 reported they were signed up for emergency alerts and about half reported that they had reviewed the city’s Emergency Preparedness Guide and strengthened their home. A similar proportion reported that they had made a plan for their pets, created a home inventory or created a “Go Bag.”
Disasters and evacuations are managed by both the Yavapai and Coconino Departments of Emergency Management, but Jablow said that the city has played more of an active role in emergency preparedness than other cities and towns. This includes purchasing land along 89A to extend Forest Road as an additional evacuation route from Uptown Sedona.
Jablow said city leaders are also working on developing an “all hazards” report to address all aspects of potential hazards in addition to a city-wide evacuation study and plan.