By Tommy Acosta —
Sedona, AZ — Just as I thought.
The Sedona City Council, at its August 23 meeting, wisely tip-toed around a draft ordinance designed to curb OHVs being operated on city streets; focusing instead on a proposed voluntary agreement between the city and OHV operators that would require operators to install equipment improvements on their vehicles.
What was pretty obvious from the councilor comments on the ordinance, was that spending the next few years in litigation battling the OHV companies is not something councilors would wish to saddle themselves and the city with. What was once sweet, had become bitter.
This was blindingly obvious to any astute observer of political gamesmanship. Not a tangible peep of support for the ordinance was uttered by anyone at the table.
At this point, the best the council could do on the regulation front is to enter into a voluntary agreement with “willing” UHV operators to put in turn signals, etc., and maybe different tires.
With no guarantee though that all OHV companies in Sedona would be willing to succumb to self-imposed regulations, the future of OHV regulation in Sedona is nebulous.
At the end of the discussion Mayor Scott Jablow summed it up in two sentences.
“I don’t want to put them out of business,” he said. “I just want to make safer vehicles – as safe as we can get.”
This was the tell. Read between the lines. No more banning OHVs on city streets. The ordinance itself is now off road.
The thought that the city was working to take the OHVs off the streets permanently, had pretty much given hope to Sedona residents whose quality of life is being negatively affected by OHVs and had anticipated seeing them gone.
It was obvious by the faces and testimony of these Sedona citizens in attendance, that this hope was dashed.
The cost in money, time, effort and the reality the city would get crushed in court pretty much sobered up gung-ho council members previously all-in on the ordinance, finally putting a nail in the ordinance coffin.
The OHV ordinance is dead in the water. Make no bones about that.
The only way for the city to save face is to create a voluntary agreement with ALL the Sedona OHV operators But, fat chance on that coming true, either.
Why would UHV companies, outside of the few the city claims it’s working with, add any extra costs to their operation if they don’t have to?
Without the ordinance “hammer” as one councilor noted, there is nothing to legally compel other OHV operators in Sedona to voluntarily do what the city wants.
The mayor said they are making progress and it’s all a part of the process of working together but what was apparent during the discussions was that the effort of creating an ordinance is done.
We can expect city staff to continue meeting with OHV operators to work something out but without the teeth, (the plausible threat of the ordinance), there will be little if no progress in that direction, especially in trying to get all the OHV companies on-line.
There will probably be a few more discussions on the voluntary agreement. Expect the ordinance itself to whither on the vine, and the voluntary agreement to gently sway in the wind from now until whenever.
Here’s another tell for you all. The USFS did not bother to attend the meeting. What does that tell you?
In three weeks, the voluntary agreement returns to the council table. Does anyone really think anything is going to be different?