Uptown parking study draws business support for permits; councilors press for resident outreach and policy guardrails

City consultants and staff briefed the Sedona City Council on Uptown parking, enforcement technology and a proposed Uptown circulator feasibility study, prompting debate over employee parking, resident permits and how the city will do outreach.

Natasha Woods of Athena Partners Strategy Group summarized early survey work with Uptown employees and businesses and said the consultant will return with more detailed data in a later meeting. “Thus far, the overwhelming answer to that question so far has been a 75% yes,” Woods said when reporting results for a question that asked employees and business owners whether they would support a special parking permit program for employees. Woods and city staff cautioned the sample size was small—about 30–40 responses at the time—and that the survey remains open.

The presentation covered a range of topics: a potential fixed‑route Uptown circulator that would link the new parking garage with Uptown, Tilakapaki and the Hillside Shopping Center; technology options to replace in‑ground stall sensors with camera‑based license‑plate recognition (LPR) and AI tools; pilot programs for time‑of‑day and seasonal pricing; and a resident permit framework modeled on the Soldier Pass area code provision already in place.

Consultant Natasha Woods said Athena has conducted door‑to‑door outreach with businesses, distributed an anonymous QR‑coded survey and begun site visits to identify candidate lots for employee or consolidated parking. Woods said the firm will deliver technology and policy recommendations and expects to return with greater detail in roughly three months.

Councilors pressed for resident‑first outreach and clear policy guidance before staff advances enforcement or employee‑parking proposals. Councilor Dunn and others said employee parking solutions should not be assumed to be a city subsidy and that businesses should lead implementation where appropriate; Councilor Fultz and others said the city must ensure residents—especially those who still live full time in Uptown neighborhoods—have a central voice before any permit program or paid parking plan is finalized.

Councilors asked specific technical and policy questions: whether dynamic, demand‑based pricing could be used to manage block‑level occupancy, whether remote consolidated lots could be used for employee parking without displacing trailhead users, and whether enforcement would be strengthened. Athena confirmed the firm will recommend technology options (LPR, camera systems, pucks, loop counters) and potential enforcement pilots, and staff said the city will consider phased approaches and cost models. “Enforcement is everything,” the consultant told the council while describing technology pilots.

Staff also reiterated a council directive that the Uptown parking garage’s cost recovery should rely on parking fees and related revenue rather than general fund subsidies. Councilors asked staff to return to a future meeting prepared with: (1) resident outreach plans and the wording and placement of resident surveys; (2) clearer cost estimates and subsidy scenarios for employee parking options; (3) the full dataset and methodology behind the Athena employee survey; and (4) a timeline that aligns a detailed parking policy discussion with the city’s SIM updates (staff noted the next SIM update on parking is scheduled for September).

What’s next: Athena will continue business outreach and close the employee survey, then present a fuller dataset and recommended options in a subsequent meeting; staff will design and schedule resident outreach and report back as part of the city’s upcoming SIM/parking review cycle.