Sedona’s Airport: “America’s Most Scenic Airport”

Editorial:

Sedona has an airport located on a flattened mesa.  It has no control tower.  It does have rules.  It’s code is KSEZ.  Flagstaff’s airport code is FLG, Phoenix’ is PHX…

Terminal Hours of Operation are:  Oct. – Mar: 7:00AM – 5:30PM and Apr. – Sep: 6:00AM – 6:00PM

The Sedona Airport is “family”.   Without a control tower, the pilots exchange courtesies with and to each other, and voluntarily choose to reduce power over residential areas on take-offs, in order to reduce noise…

…however, there are those pilots who take-off full throttle across our neighborhoods.

We are happy to give you Sedona Airport’s website information.  Click here.

The picture below comes to us from National Geographic.  It shows the 5 mile radius of the airport.  Within this area, residents will hear airport “noise” and if purchasing property within the Sedona area, the “noise” or the possibility of “noise” should be disclosed to you.

The Sedona Airport:

SedonaFacts is proud to bring you this historical information provided by http://sedonaairport.org/image/SedonaAirportHistory2.jpg

From the RedRockReview comes additional information:

Certain airport noise affects residents. While Sedona is a tourist destination, many residents do find that the helicopters and bi-planes do add to intrusion into their “quiet” rights.  If you intend to purchase property, ask your agent about the effects of airport noise in relation to your prospective purchase.

Here are 2 YouTube videos of landings…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-m7MXI1_TA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyVcQWbHXIc&feature=related

 

Have a beautiful Sedona day!

SedonaFacts

 

Sedonans: Want to Pay For The Liabilities of West Sedona’s SR89A?

ADOT just sent Mayor Rob Adams a letter regarding the lighting of West Sedona’s SR89A…

…this one is from Director John S. Halikowski.

Links to articles referred to by ADOT’s Director:  Sedona.biz & SedonaTimes (note Sedona Times did not use the logo).

Link to related SR 89A article:  Red Rock News,

The question for Sedonans is whether or not they want to own SR89A.

Do we want to become the sole party responsible for the maintenance of a road?

…the sole party responsible for defending against lawsuits due to accidents?

…the entity with sole responsibility to pay for medians, barriers, and lighting?

Sedona does own part of SR89A in Uptown, an agreement that came about during the Uptown Enhancement Project.  Do Sedonans want more maintenance and liability of SR89A?  We understand that the City is already working on cost projections should ADOT become tired of defending their position to use continuous lighting along West Sedona’s SR89A and decides to move on to door number 2.

We hear the “no continuous lighting” people also telling us we have no money…  How will they pay for medians, barriers, etc.?  Maybe it’s time for the public to ask how the naysayers expect to pay for their alternatives to the continuous lighting offered by ADOT at little cost to Sedona.  This letter makes it definitive that we are at the crossroads.

“…you, too, can own a highway…”  

Have a beautiful Sedona day!

SedonaFacts

City of Sedona Finances Compared to Other AZ Cities…

Sedona Budget Graph

SedonaFacts

Are We a Democracy? Or, a Republic?

We continue to hear the chants, “listen to the people”…”listen to the people”… We are a democracy!!

Are we?  “…and the Republic, for which it stands…”

Click on the picture to view the video…

Sometimes we need to be reminded…

3 branches of government… The Executive, The Judiciary, and the Legislative.

Think checks and balance.

SedonaFacts

SedonaFacts is an Arizona Registered TradeName.  No one other than this blog is authorized to use the name.  We are not responsible for statements other than those used on this site.

Sedona City Councilors Found Innocent of Candidate Litrell’s Accusations…

Accusation filed by Candidate Barbara Litrell on September 15, 2008, while President of Keep Sedona Beautiful against members of the Sedona City Council. 

Barbara Litrell's Letter to AZ AG's Office

Mrs. Litrell’s Complaint form as referenced in the above letter…

B Litrell's Complaint Letter to AZ AG

B Litrell's Complaint to AZ AG's Office

B Litrell complaint to AZ AG

Those who were the brunt of Mrs. Litrell’s complaint stated they knew nothing, had been asked nothing, and were surprised when the Sedona City Attorney spoke with each of them after receiving the complaint.  It appears that the complaintant, KSB’s Mrs. Litrell did nothing to ascertain her facts prior to filing the complaint.

On January 15, 2009, the Sedona City Attorney received a letter from Casey W. Cullings, Assistant Attorney General, vindicating those accused of breaking the Open Meeting Law at a “social setting” (one of the Councilors was not even in attendance as Mrs. Litrell stated), and finding the City of Sedona not in violation of the Open Meening Laws leading up to the Approval of the Continuous Roadway Lighting decision.

How much money was needlesly spent on Mrs. Litrell’s complaint?  Time and money needlessly spent by both the State of Arizona and the City of Sedona.

SedonaFacts will be publishing the full 5 page decision issued by the AG’s office in our next post.

Stay tuned…

Disclosure and Disclaimer:   SedonaFacts is an Arizona Registered TradeName.   No other entity is authorized to use the name, nor is anyone authorized to make statements for SedonaFacts.

ADOT’s Letter to Sedona City Council…April 12, 2008

Sedona Facts

Follow-Up on Panel Recommendations to City of Sedona on SR89A Lighting…

This Memo explains the lighting panel’s inability to decide on a plan… remember that Cliff Oshcer had resigned in June… this is now August.

The issue still appears to be:

1. liability on SR89A
2. who can pay for what
3. time for implementation

Have a dry, warm day… indoors

SedonaFacts

SR89A Pedestrian Safety Committee Panel Options…June 2008

Much misinformation is being stated by some candidates and some members of  Sedona’s Community about the history of the SR89A lights.

Perhaps this memo from then-City-Manager, Eric Levitt will help dispel many rumors and candidate quotes:

Notice in #6 that Cliff Oshcer did NOT agree with the panel recommendation prior to the final draft and as noted further down, resigned from the committee before the final draft. SedonaFacts asks the question: Did Mr. Oshcer have an interest other than for the City of Sedona by his participation on the Safety Committee Panel?  Mr. Oshcer has also “resigned” from IDSA, 2 days after a lengthy  article in a local newspaper about he being the president of the local section of IDSA and that no Dark Sky designation could be granted without the section approval …Why be so certain that Sedona could not do Dark Sky without him on one day, and resign 2 days later?  Is it possible that Mr. Oshcer may have overstated his importance? Is it also possible that Mr. Oshcer resigned for reasons OTHER than to devote his time to helping certain candidates get elected to the City Council or position of Mayor? 2 days…  Did Mr. Oshcer speak for IDA?…or himself as the owner of Evening Sky Tours?

Ask Mr. Ochser why he resigned…

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

This is part of the email from John Harper, ADOT, to the City of Sedona in response to the City’s letter:

“…A smaller section of SR89A will have continuous lighting.  This lighting will be associated with the traffic signal which will be installed at Andante.  The remainder of SR89A in West Sedona in the study area, on either side of this lighted section, will be subject to the installation of a median, median barrier or pedestrian barriers.  These will be specifically designed to channelize pedestrians to organized crossings, which will be signalized, marked, and lighted.

ADOt is agreeing to this compromise solution only if the median and pedestrian barriers are included for the remainer of the study area…”

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Sedona does not have funds to build medians, etc.  The same people who don’t want lights made it abundantly clear at the KSB candidate forum that the City of Sedona was spending beyond its means and needed to live within a budget.

Have a beautiful Sedona day!

SedonaFacts

Sedona’s Dark Sky Begins With DarkSky.org

Do you belong?

When SedonaFacts began writing about the Dark Sky requirements, we found that the posts had many of you considering becoming members of DarkSky.org.  Membership begins at $50/year.

Many people in Sedona want to see us achieve Dark Sky status.  What a wonderful thing to be the 3rd city in the US to gain such a status; and, with Flagstaff but the switchbacks away, we can learn from them.

We posted a letter from Kim Patten of the Interational Dark Sky Organization explaining the procedures a city must go through in order to apply for the designation.  We want to share more information with you about this great opportunity.                                                                                                                                     

 Left:  No          Right:  Yes

We are looking forward to learning from the DarkSky.org people just what we can do to keep Sedona’s beautiful night skies.

Join us at night with this interactive Sky Chart.

Advertise on your website…

SedonaFacts

                                             Beam me up, Scottie!

Arizona’s Open Meeting Law… a Primer

In effect since 1962, Arizona’s Open Meeting Law exists to “1) protect the public; 2) protect public officials; 3) maintain integrity of government; 4) better informed citizenry; 5) build trust between government and citizenry.” 

“All meetings of any public body shall be public meetings and all persons so desiring shall be permitted to attend and listen to the deliberations and proceedings.” A.R.S § 38-431.01(A). 

It is the public policy of this state that meetings of public bodies be conducted openly and that notices and agendas be provided for such meetings which contain such information as is reasonable necessary to inform the public of the matters to be discussed or decided. A.R.S. § 38-431.09.” 

The law requires 24 hours notice to the members of the public entity and to the general public that a meeting is to be held. 

Click here for the full pdf file 

Example:  January 14, 2010, a candidate forum was scheduled and held at the offices of Keep Sedona Beautiful (KSB).  Issue:  4 people currently serving on the Sedona City Council as either Councilors or Mayor were on the dais.  Several current Sedona Councilors were planning to attend.  

 4 members of the Sedona City Council constitute a quorum.  

Instead of rescheduling the forum, KSB chose to continue its presentation, without all the candidates.  Only Rob Adams, Nancy Scagnelli, and Dan Surber acted in the forum as sitting members.  All others chose to miss the forum. 

Why would this be an issue?  A question asked of all candidates, with consensus of the 4 council candidates currently serving terms, could be construed as policy-making… 

Emails, meeting for dinner, conference calls… all need to be mindful of the “open meeting” law of Arizona.  And it is especially difficult in small towns where people all know each other. 

Have a beautify Sedona day! 

Disclaimer:  SedonaFacts is a registered Arizona TradeMark, solely for the use of this blog.  No one else is authorized to use that name when voicing opinions or making statements.