Sedona council adopts new rules for private sports courts, keeps neighbor review for setback exceptions

SEDONA, Ariz. — The Sedona City Council on April 22 approved ordinance 2025-44 revising the city’s Land Development Code to regulate private sports courts such as pickleball, tennis and basketball courts on residential property.

Councilors said the changes aim to protect the quiet and character of neighborhoods while allowing owners to install courts under defined controls. The ordinance updates setbacks, lighting, hours of operation and requires neighbor notification and, in many cases, a conditional use permit (CUP) when applicants seek reduced setbacks.

The code changes were presented by Carrie Meyer, city planning staff, who said the revisions follow council direction from an October work session and Planning & Zoning discussion earlier this year. “We did research into other communities that have similar regulations and came up with some that we believed would work for Sedona,” Meyer told the council. She said the draft before council reflected staff recommendations and amendments the Planning & Zoning Commission made, including addition of time-of-use restrictions and the commission’s preference that some reduced-setback requests be reviewed through a CUP.

Under the adopted rules, courts must meet a base setback standard and may seek a reduced setback only if they satisfy specified criteria; reduced setbacks would generally be approved through a CUP so neighbors within a 300-foot radius are notified and can comment. The ordinance also limits court use to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. unless the Planning & Zoning Commission modifies hours through a CUP. The regulations explicitly exclude swimming pools and driveways "used for access to a garage" from the sports-court definition; councilors discussed whether the word "exclusively" should be retained in that phrase to avoid enforcement ambiguity.

Council discussion focused on two recurring concerns: whether HOAs or groups of property owners could use the reduced-setback provision to site a court near nonparticipating neighbors, and how the term "exclusively" in the driveway exclusion might be interpreted. Councilor Kinsella said the HOA issue was worth watching: "It does look like a group of people in an HOA could pick a corner of their HOA property that's closer to someone that's not in the HOA and get away with the 200-foot limitation if they can meet one of the other things," he said, urging careful deployment of the CUP and notification steps. Carrie Meyer and staff said the CUP and notification requirement were intended to give neighbors a formal opportunity to respond when a reduced setback is requested.

Public comment at the hearing was overwhelmingly supportive of the ordinance. Becky Hoefer, who said a neighbor recently tried to build a court 10 feet from her property line, told the council: "I support regulating these sport courts, especially in our residential neighborhoods... I urge you to please pass this ordinance without delay." Bob Pifke said staff and Planning & Zoning had "done a wonderful job" drafting the rules and reported a petition of 476 signatures backing the change. Norris Peterson told council the amendment "will do a great deal to protect the peace and quiet and tranquility of our neighborhoods."

Planning & Zoning recommended that proposals seeking departures from the standard 200-foot setback be processed through a conditional use permit to ensure neighbor notice and a hearing; staff earlier had proposed a director-level administrative reduction if applicants met specified criteria. Councilors debated which body should decide reduced-setback requests but ultimately approved the Planning & Zoning approach.

The council approved the ordinance by a unanimous vote; no effective date was announced at the meeting.

Votes at a glance: The council voted unanimously to adopt ordinance 2025-44 revising the Land Development Code (case PZ25-00001). The formal motion to approve (as printed in the agenda bill) was made and seconded from the dais; the vote included Mayor Scott Jablow, Vice Mayor Pflugh and Councilors Dunn, Fultz, Fuhrman, Kinsella and Pfaff voting "yes."